Words are the dress of thoughts; which should no more be presented in rags, tatters, and dirt than your person should.

Good breeding is the result of good sense, some good nature, and a little self-denial for the sake of others.

To take a wife merely as an agreeable and rational companion, will commonly be found to be a grand mistake.

The vulgar only laugh, but never smile; whereas well-bred people often smile, but seldom laugh.

Nothing convinces persons of a weak understanding so effectually, as what they do not comprehend.

Women are all so far Machiavellians that they are never either good or bad by halves; their passions are too strong, and their reason too weak, to do anything with moderation.

Many young people adopt pleasures for which they have not the least taste, only because they are called by that name.... You mustallow that drunkenness, which is equally destructive to body and mind, is a fine pleasure. Gaming, that draws you into a thousand scraps, leaves you penniless, and gives you the air and manners of an outrageous madman, is another most exquisite pleasure, is it not? As to running after women, the consequences of that vice are only the loss of one's nose, the total destruction of health, and, not unfrequently, the being run through the body.