To speak truly, few adult persons can see nature. Most persons do not see the sun.

A friend is a person with whom I may be sincere. Before him I may think aloud.

We are all inventors, each sailing out on a voyage of discovery, guided each by a private chart, of which there is no duplicate. The world is all gates, all opportunities.

No rent-roll nor army-list can dignify skulking and dissimulation: and the first point of courtesy must always be truth, as really all the forms of good-breeding point that way.

Life too near paralyses art.

The reason why any one refuses his assent to your opinion, or his aid to your benevolent design, is in you: he refuses to accept you as a bringer of truth, because, though you think you have it, he feels that you have it not. You have not given him the authentic sign.

For everything you have missed, you have gained something else, and for everything you gain, you lose something else.