Good-humor will sometimes conquer ill-humor, but ill-humor will conquer it oftener; and for this plain reason, good-humor must operate on generosity, ill-humor on meanness.

Unbecoming forwardness oftener proceeds from ignorance than impudence.

It is not enough that you can form nay, and follow, the most excellent rules for conducting yourself in the world. You must also know when to deviate from them, and where lies the exception.

A very small offence may be a just cause for great resentment: it is often much less the particular instance which is obnoxious to us than the proof it carries with it of the general tenor and disposition of the mind from whence it sprung.

To divest one's self of some prejudices would be like taking off the skin to feel the better.

A proud man never shows his pride so much as when he is civil.

As charity covers a multitude of sins before God, so does politeness before men.