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.

Despair gives the shocking ease to the mind that a mortification gives to the body.

Removing prejudices is, alas! too often removing the boundary of a delightful near prospect in order to let in a shockingly extensive one.

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

What an argument in favor of social connections is the observation that by communicating our grief we have less, and by communicating our pleasure we have more.

Whatever natural right men may have to freedom and independency, it is manifest that some men have a natural ascendency over others.

Man is the only creature endowed with the power of laughter.