Study is the bane of childhood, the oil of youth, the indulgence of adulthood, and a restorative in old age.

Cruelty is the highest pleasure to the cruel man; it is his love.

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.

When a cat flatters ... he is not insincere: you may safely take it for real kindness.

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

O what a thing is age! Death without death's quiet.

Where power is absent we may find the robe of genius, but we miss the throne.