Sex: the pleasure is momentary, the position ridiculous, and the expense damnable.

You should not only have attention to everything, but a quickness of attention, so as to observe at once all the people in the room--their motions, their looks and their words--and yet without staring at them and seeming to be an observer.

Let it be your maxim through life, to know all you can know, yourself; and never to trust implicitly to the information of others.

The world is a country which nobody ever yet knew by description; one must travel through it one's self to be acquainted with it.

Firmness of purpose is one of the most necessary sinews of character, and one of the best instruments of success. Without it, genius wastes its efforts in a maze of inconsistencies.

Good manners are the settled medium of social, as specie is of commercial, life; returns are equally expected for both.

Frequent and loud laughter is the characteristic of folly and ill manners.