I have found men to be more kind than I expected, and less just.

Liberty is the parent of truth, but truth and decency are sometimes at variance. All men and all propositions are to be treated here as they deserve, and there are many who have no claim either to respect or decency.

Life must be filled up, and the man who is not capable of intellectual pleasures must content himself with such as his senses can afford.

Books that you may carry to the fire, and hold readily in your hand, are the most useful after all.

To forget, or pretend to do so, to return a borrowed article, is the meanest sort of petty theft.

Ignorance, when it is voluntary, is criminal.

It is necessary to the success of flattery, that it be accommodated to particular circumstances or characters, and enter the heart on that side where the passions are ready to receive it.