Nothing is more dissimilar than natural and acquired politeness. The first consists in a willing abnegation of self; the second in a compelled recollection of others.

The value of moments, when cast up, is immense, if well employed; if thrown away, their loss is irrecoverable.

It is hard to say which is the greatest fool: he who tells the whole truth, or he who tells no truth at all. Character is as necessary in business as in trade. No man can deceive often in either.

To please people is a great step towards persuading them.

How often should a woman be pregnant? Continually, or hardly ever? Or must there be a certain number of pregnancy anniversaries established by fashion? What do you, at the age of forty-three, have to say on the subject? Is it a fact that the laws of nature, or of the country, or of propriety, have ordained this time of life for sterility?

To take a wife merely as an agreeable and rational companion, will commonly be found to be a grand mistake.

It is often more necessary to conceal contempt than resentment; the former is never forgiven, but the later is sometimes forgotten.