I thought as I rode in the cold pleasant light of Sunday morning how silent & passive nature offers, every morn, her wealth to man; she is immensely rich, he is welcome to her entire goods, which he speaks no word, only leaves over doors ajar, hall, store room, & cellar. He may do as he will: if he takes her hint & uses her goods, she speaks no word; if he blunders & starves, she says nothing.

Love and you shall be loved. All love is mathematically just, as much as two sides of an algebraic equation.

There is this to be said in favor of drinking, that it takes the drunkard first out of society, then out of the world.

Manners have been somewhat cynically defined to be a contrivance of wise men to keep fools at a distance. Fashion is shrewd to detect those who do not belong to her train, and seldom wastes her attentions. Society is very swift in its instincts, and if you do not belong to it, resists and sneers at you, or quietly drops you.

Convert life into truth.

The essence of friendship is entireness, a total magnanimity and trust.

Men are conservatives when they are least vigorous or when they are most luxurious-they are conservatives after dinner.