A gift--its kind, its value and appearance; the silence or the pomp that attends it; the style in which it reaches you--may decide the dignity or vulgarity of the giver.

All affectation is the vain and ridiculous attempt of poverty to appear rich

He who is passionate and hasty is generally honest. It is your cool, dissembling hypocrite of whom you should beware.

The affectation of sanctity is a blotch on the face of piety.

He who comes from the kitchen, smells of its smoke; and he who adheres to a sect, has something of its cant; the college air pursues the student; and dry inhumanity him who herds with literary pedants.

He is incapable of a truly good action who finds not a pleasure in contemplating the good actions of others.

To realize that you were mistaken, is just the acknowledgement , that you are wiser today than you were yesterday.