They are, as it were, train-bearers in the pageant of life, and hold a glass up to humanity, frailer than itself. We see ourselves at second-hand in them: they show us all that we are, all that we wish to be, and all that we dread to be. What brings the resemblance nearer is, that, as they imitate us, we, in our turn, imitate them. There is no class of society whom so many persons regard with affection as actors.

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

We are very much what others think of us. The reception our observations meet with gives us courage to proceed, or damps our efforts.

Men are in numberless instances qualified for certain things, for no other reason than because they are qualified for nothing else.

Grace in women has more effect than beauty. We sometimes see a certain fine self-possession, an habitual voluptuousness of character, which reposes on its own sensations and derives pleasure from all around it, that is more irresistible than any other attraction. There is an air of languid enjoyment in such persons, "in their eyes, in their arms, and their hands, and their face," which robs us of ourselves, and draws us by a secret sympathy towards them.

The best part of our lives we pass in counting on what is to come.

The way to get on in the world is to be neither more nor less wise, neither better nor worse than your neighbours.