The truth is, we like to talk over our disasters, because they are ours; and others like to listen, because they are not theirs.

It is said that ridicule is the test of truth: it is never applied, but when we wish to deceive ourselves.

Habit is a second nature, and what was at first pleasure, is next necessity.

Of all false assertions that ever went into the world under the banner of a great name and the mail armor of a well-turned phrase, Locke's comparison of the mind to a blank sheet of paper appears to me among the most untrue.

A preface is a species of literary luxury, where an author, like a lover, is privileged to be egotistical.

I do not think that life has a suspense more sickening than that of expecting a letter which does not come.

The old proverb, applied to fire and water, may with equal truth be applied to the imagination - it is a good servant, but a bad master.