Judgment is not upon all occasions required, but discretion always is.

Choose the company of your superiors whenever you can have it.

Learning is acquired by reading books; much more necessary learning, the knowledge of the world, is only to be acquired by reading men, and studying all the various editions of them.

Spirit is now a very fashionable word: to act with Spirit, to speak with Spirit, means only to act rashly, and to talk indiscreetly. An able man shows his Spirit by gentle words and resolute actions; he is neither hot nor timid.

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.

I sometimes give myself admirable advice, but I am incapable of taking it.

Remember, as long as you live, that nothing but strict truth can carry you through the world, with either your conscience or your honor unwounded.