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.

To know a little of anything gives neither satisfaction nor credit, but often brings disgrace or ridicule.

Very ugly or very beautiful women should be flattered on their understanding, and mediocre ones on their beauty.

Instead of giving in to the greatest misfortune that can happen at my age, deafness, I busy myself in searching out all possible compensations, and I apply myself much more to all the amusements that are here within my grasp.

An injury is much sooner forgotten than an insult.

A certain degree of ceremony is a necessary outwork of manners, as well as of religion; it keeps the forward and petulant at a proper distance, and is a very small restraint to the sensible and to the well-bred part of the world.

An honest man may really love a pretty girl, but only an idiot marries her merely because she is pretty.