Praise is the only gift for which people are really grateful.

Men are capable of making great sacrifices, who are not willing to make the lesser ones, on which so much of the happiness of life depends. The great sacrifices are seldom called for, but the minor ones are in daily requisition; and the making them with cheerfulness and grace enhances their value.

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

He who fears not, is to be feared.

There is no knowledge for which so great a price is paid as a knowledge of the world; and no one ever became an adept in it except at the expense of a hardened or a wounded heart.

Mountains appear more lofty the nearer they are approached, but great men resemble them not in this particular.

The difference between weakness and wickedness is much less than people suppose; and the consequences are nearly always the same.