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.

The vices of the rich and great are mistaken for error; and those of the poor and lowly, for crimes.

Modern historians are all would-be philosophers; who, instead of relating facts as they occurred, give us their version, or rather perversions of them, always colored by their political prejudices, or distorted to establish some theory . . .

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

Religion converts despair, which destroys, into resignation, which submits.

Here Fashion is a despot, and no one dreams of evading its dictates.

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.