Nature in causing reason and the passions to be born at one and the same time apparently wished by the latter gift to distract man from the evil she had done him by the former, and by only permitting him to live for a few years after the loss of his passions seems to show her pity by early deliverance from a life that reduces him to reason as his sole resource.

Most books today seemed to have been written overnight from books read the day before.

A fool who has a flash of wit creates astonishment and scandal, like hack-horses setting out to gallop.

All that I've learned, I've forgotten. The little that I still know, I've guessed.

We need to be just before we are generous, as we need shirts before ruffles.

Bachelors' wives and old maids' children are always perfect.

I have three kinds of friends: those who love me, those who pay no attention to me, and those who detest me.