Knowledge of the world in only to be acquired in the world, and not in a closet.

Buy good books, and read them; the best books are the commonest, and the last editions are always the best, if the editors are not blockheads.

I have, by long experience, found women to be like Telephus's spear: if one end kills, the other cures.

It seems to me that physical sickness softens, just as moral sickness hardens, the heart.

Women are much more like each other than men: they have, in truth, but two passions, vanity and love; these are their universal characteristics.

Polished brass will pass upon more people than rough gold.

Prepare yourself for the world, as athletes used to do for their exercises; oil your mind and your manners, to give them the necessary suppleness and flexibility; strength alone will not do.