It might be argued, that to be a knave is the gift of fortune, but to play the fool to advantage it is necessary to be a learned man.

The most phlegmatic dispositions often contain the most inflammable spirits, as fire is struck from the hardest flints.

Of all eloquence a nickname is the most concise; of all arguments the most unanswerable.

The safest kind of praise is to foretell that another will become great in some particular way. It has the greatest show of magnanimity and the least of it in reality.

Man is a poetical animal, and delights in fiction.

A certain excess of animal spirits with thoughtless good-humor will often make more enemies than the most deliberate spite and ill-nature, which is on its guard, and strikes with caution and safety.

We would willingly, and without remorse, sacrifice not only the present moment, but all the interval (no matter how long) that separates us from any favorite object.