Half the business is done, when one has gained the heart and the affections of those with whom one is to transact it.

Many new years you may see, but happy ones you cannot see without deserving them. These virtue, honor, and knowledge alone can merit, alone can produce.

Our conjectures pass upon us for truths; we will know what we do not know, and often, what we cannot know: so mortifying to our pride is the base suspicion of ignorance.

He makes people pleased with him by making them first pleased with themselves.

Sexual intercourse is a grossly overrated pastime; the position is undignified, the pleasure momentary and the consequences damnable.

The permanency of most friendships depends upon the continuity of good fortune.

Any affectation whatsoever in dress implies, in my mind, a flaw in the understanding.