An infallible characteristic of meanness is cruelty.

There is no book so poor that it would not be a prodigy if wholly made by a single man.

A Scotchman must be a very sturdy moralist who does not love Scotland better than truth.

Men who stand in the highest ranks of society seldom hear of their faults; if by any accident an opprobrious clamour reaches their ears, flattery is always at hand to pour in her opiates, to quiet conviction and obtund remorse.

Every man's affairs, however little, are important to himself.

When making your choice in life, do not neglect to live.

This is my history; like all other histories, a narrative of misery.