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.

True delicacy, as true generosity, is more wounded by an offence from itself--if I may be allowed the expression--than to itself.

True joy is only hope put out of fear.

There is an unfortunate disposition in a man to attend much more to the faults of his companions which offend him, than to their perfections which please him.

Unbecoming forwardness oftener proceeds from ignorance than impudence.

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.

Men and statues that are admired ire an elevated situation have a very different effect upon us when we approach them; the first appear less than we imagined them, the last bigger.