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

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

Only vain people wage war against the vanity of others.

Many minds that have withstood the most severe trials have been broken down by a succession of ignoble cares.

There are some chagrins of the heart which a friend ought to try to console without betraying a knowledge of their existence, as there are physical maladies which a physician ought to seek to heal without letting the sufferer know that he has discovered their extent.

A man should never boast of his courage, nor a woman of her virtue, lest their doing so should be the cause of calling their possession of them into question.

Conversation is the legs on which thought walks; and writing, the wings by which it flies.