Men, as well as women, are much oftener led by their hearts than by their understandings.

In friendship, as well as in love, the mind is often the dupe of the heart.

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

A man who cannot command his temper, his attention, and his countenance should not think of being a man of business.

One should always think of what one is about; when one is learning, one should not think of play; and when one is at play, one should not think of learning.

I look upon indolence as a sort of suicide; for the man is effectually destroyed, though the appetites of the brute may survive.

When I reflect upon what I have seen, what I have heard, what I have done, I can hardly persuade myself that all that frivolous hurry and bustle and pleasure of the world had any reality; and I look on what has passed as one of those wild dreams which opium occasions, and I by no means wish to repeat the nauseous dose for the sake of the fugitive illusion.