Being poor is a mere trifle. It is being known to be poor that is the sting.

Ambition is only vanity ennobled.

I respect the truth too much to drag it out on every occasion.

If a man stopped me in the street and demanded of me my watch, I should refuse to give it to him. If he threatened to take it by force, I feel I should, though not a fighting man, do my best to protect it. If, on the other hand, he should assert his intention of trying to obtain it by means of an action in any court of law, I should take it out of my pocket and hand it to him, and think I had got off cheaply.

Five thousand people in one society might do something, but five thousand societies of one member each would be a holy trouble.

I often arrive at quite sensible ideas and judgements, on the spur of the moment. It is when I stop to think that I become foolish.

Conceit is the finest armour a man can wear.