Imagination is to love what gas is to the balloon-that which raises it from earth.

Politeness, however, acts the lady's maid to our thoughts; and they are washed, dressed, curled, rouged, and perfumed, before they are presented to the public.

Surprises are like misfortunes or herrings - they rarely come single.

There is no denying that there are 'royal roads' through existence for the upper classes; for them, at least, the highways are macadamized, swept, and watered.

Memory has many conveniences, and, among others, that of foreseeing things as they have afterwards happened.

In sad truth, half our forebodings of our neighbors are but our own wishes, which we are ashamed to utter in any other form.

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