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

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

[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.

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

We are more prone to murmur at the punishment of our faults than to lament them.

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

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