And we meet, with champagne and a chicken, at last.

I believe more follies are committed out of complaisance to the world, than in following our own inclinations.

Miserable is the fate of writers: if they are agreeable, they are offensive; and if dull, they starve.

We are no more free agents than the queen of clubs when she victoriously takes prisoner the knave of hearts.

I prefer liberty to chains of diamonds.

The familiarities of the gaming-table contribute very much to the decay of politeness ... The pouts and quarrels that naturally arise from disputes must put an end to all complaisance, or even good will towards one another.

I have all my life been on my guard against the information conveyed by the sense of hearing -- it being one of my earliest observations, the universal inclination of humankind is to be led by the ears, and I am sometimes apt to imagine that they are given to men as they are to pitchers, purposely that they may be carried about by them.