That man is good who does good to others; if he suffers on account of the good he does, he is very good; if he suffers at the hands of those to whom he has done good, then his goodness is so great that it could be enhanced only by greater sufferings; and if he should die at their hands, his virtue can go no further: it is heroic, it is perfect.

An inconstant woman is one who is no longer in love; a false woman is one who is already in love with another person; a fickle woman is she who neither knows whom she loves nor whether she loves or not; and the indifferent woman, one who does not love at all.

Everything has been said, and we have come too late, now that men have been living and thinking for seven thousand years and more.

A man starts upon a sudden, takes Pen, Ink, and Paper, and without ever having had a thought of it before, resolves within himself he will write a Book; he has no Talent at Writing, but he wants fifty Guineas.

A mediocre mind thinks it writes divinely; a good mind thinks it writes reasonably.

Jesting is often only indigence of intellect.

A heap of epithets is poor praise: the praise lies in the facts, and in the way of telling them.