... many a heart is caught in the rebound ... Pride may be soothed by the ready devotion of another; vanity may be excited the more keenly by recent mortification.

In marriage, as in chemistry, opposites have often an attraction.

There is no existence so content as that whose present is engrossed by employment, and whose future is filled by some strong hope, the truth of which is never proved. Toil and illusion are the only secrets to make life tolerable.

If there be any one habit which more than another is the dry rot of all that is high and generous in youth, it is the habit of ridicule.

Assuredly, meeting after absence, is one of - ah, no! - it is life's most delicious feeling.

Society is like a large piece of frozen water; and skating well is the great art of social life.

It is a curious fact, but a fact it is, that your witty people are the most hard-hearted in the world. The truth is, fancy destroys feeling. The quick eye to the ridiculous turns every thing to the absurd side; and the neat sentence, the lively allusion, and the odd simile, invest what they touch with something of their own buoyant nature. Humor is of the heart, and has its tears; but wit is of the head, and has only smiles - and the majority of those are bitter.