Be your character what it will, it will be known, and nobody will take it upon your word.

Human nature is the same everywhere; the modes only are different.

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.

A young fellow ought to be wiser than he should seem to be; and an old fellow ought to seem wise whether he really be so or not.

You must be respectable, if you will be respected.

Let us not only scatter benefits, but even strew flowers for our fellow-travellers, in the rugged ways of this wretched world.

Singularity is only pardonable in old age and retirement; I may now be as singular as I please, but you may not.