Mankind are a herd of knaves and fools. It is necessary to join the crowd, or get out of their way, in order not to be trampled to death by them.

The last pleasure in life is the sense of discharging our duty.

To impress the idea of power on others, they must be made in some way to feel it.

The discussing the characters and foibles of common friends is a great sweetness and cement of friendship.

Habit in most cases hardens and encrusts by taking away the keener edge of our sensations: but does it not in others quicken and refine, by giving a mechanical facility and by engrafting an acquired sense?

The person whose doors I enter with most pleasure, and quit with most regret, never did me the smallest favor.

The world loves to be amused by hollow professions, to be deceived by flattering appearances, to live in a state of hallucination; and can forgive everything but the plain, downright, simple, honest truth.