Madam, before you flatter a man so grossly to his face, you should consider whether or not your flattery is worth his having.

I have all my life long been lying in bed till noon; yet I tell all young men, and tell them with great sincerity, that nobody who does not rise early will ever do any good.

Whatever is formed for long duration arrives slowly to its maturity.

Such is the state of life, that none are happy but by the anticipation of change: the change itself is nothing; when we have made it, the next wish is to change again.

An infallible characteristic of meanness is cruelty. Men who have practiced tortures on animals without pity, relating them without shame, how can they still hold their heads among human beings?

We have always pretensions to fame which, in our own hearts, we know to be disputable.

It is to be steadily inculcated, that virtue is the highest proof of understanding, and the only solid basis of greatness.