Familiarity confounds all traits of distinction; interest and prejudice take away the power of judging.

We have more faith in a well-written romance while we are reading it than in common history. The vividness of the representations in the one case more than counterbalances the mere knowledge of the truth of facts in the other.

Hope is the best possession. None are completely wretched but those who are without hope. Few are reduced so low as that.

Pure good soon grows insipid, wants variety and spirit. Pain is a bittersweet, which never surfeits. Love turns, with a little indulgence, to indifference or disgust. Hatred alone is immortal.

We grow tired of ourselves, much more of other people.

Want of principle is power. Truth and honesty set a limit to our efforts, which impudence and hypocrisy easily overleap.

He who is as faithful to his principles as he is to himself is the true partisan.