The world dread nothing so much as being convinced of their errors.

The definition of genius is that it acts unconsciously, and those who have produced immortal works have done so without knowing how or why.

We do not die wholly at our deaths: we have mouldered away gradually long before. Faculty after faculty, interest after interest, attachment after attachment disappear: we are torn from ourselves while living.

Good temper is an estate for life.

Nothing precludes sympathy so much as a perfect indifference to it

There are no rules for friendship. It must be left to itself. We cannot force it any more than love.

Sincerity has to do with the connexion between our words and thoughts, and not between our beliefs and actions.