Imagination, which is the Eldorado of the poet and of the novel-writer, often proves the most pernicious gift to the individuals who compose the talkers instead of the writers in society.

Love matches are made by people who are content, for a month of honey, to condemn themselves to a life of vinegar.

Friends are the thermometer by which we may judge the temperature of our fortunes.

[His mind] was like a volcano, full of fire and wealth, sometimes calm, often dazzling and playful, but ever threatening. It ran swift as the lightning from one subject to another, and occasionally burst forth in passionate throes of intellect, nearly allied to madness.

Bores: People who talk of themselves, when you are thinking only of yourself.

Those who are formed to win general admiration are seldom calculated to bestow individual happiness.

Borrowed thoughts, like borrowed money, only show the poverty of the borrower.