In such a government as ours no man is appointed to an office because he is the fittest for it--nor hardly in any other government--because there are so many connections and dependencies to be studied.

The pleasure of expecting enjoyment is often greater than that of obtaining it, and the completion of almost every wish is found a disappointment.

Never believe extraordinary characters which you hear of people. Depend upon it, they are exaggerated. You do not see one man shoot a great deal higher than another.

As I know more of mankind I expect less of them, and am ready now to call a man a good man upon easier terms than I was formerly.

I believe it will be found that those who marry late are best pleased with their children; and those who marry early, with their partners.

Be not too hasty to trust or to admire the teachers of morality; they discourse like angels, but they live like men.

Guilt once harbored in the conscious breast, intimidates the brave, degrades the great.