One of the illusions of life is that the present hour is not the critical, decisive one.

Evil is merely privative, not absolute: it is like cold, which is the privation of beat.

And, in fine, the ancient precept, "Know thyself," and the modern precept, "Study nature," become at last one maxim.

Where do we find ourselves? In a series of which we do not know the extremes, and believe that it has none. We wake and find ourselves on a stair; there are stairs below us, which we seem to have ascended; there are stairs above us, many a one, which go upward and out of sight.

We sometimes meet an original gentleman, who, if manners had not existed, would have invented them.

Make the most of yourself, for that is all there is of you.

It is commonly observed that a sudden wealth, like a prize drawn in a lottery or a large bequest to a poor family, does not permanently enrich. They have served no apprenticeship to wealth, and with the rapid wealth come rapid claims which they do not know how to deny, and the treasure is quickly dissipated.