Prose on certain occasions can bear a great deal of poetry; on the other hand, poetry sinks and swoons under a moderate weight of prose.

There is no more certain sign of a narrow mind, of stupidity, and of arrogance, than to stand aloof from those who think differently from us.

A man's vanity tells him what is honor, a man's conscience what is justice.

The habit of pleasing by flattery makes a language soft; the fear of offending by truth makes it circuitous and conventional.

As there are some flowers which you should smell but slightly to extract all that is pleasant in them ... so there are some men with whom a slight acquaintance is quite sufficient to draw out all that is agreeable; a more intimate one would be unsafe and unsatisfactory.

The wise become as the unwise in the enchanted chambers of Power, whose lamps make every face the same colour.

The deafest man can hear praise, and is slow to think any an excess.