The chief prerequisite for a escort is to have a flexible conscience and an inflexible politeness.

Grief is, of all the passions, the one that is the most ingenious and indefatigable in finding food for its own subsistence.

Pleasure is like a cordial - a little of it is not injurious, but too much destroys.

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

Happiness is a rare plant that seldom takes root on earth-few ever enjoyed it, except for a brief period; the search after it is rarely rewarded by the discovery, but there is an admirable substitute for it... a contented spirit.

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

People seem to lose all respect for the past; events succeed each other with such velocity that the most remarkable one of a few years gone by, is no more remembered than if centuries had closed over it.