Love turns, with a little indulgence, to indifference or disgust; hatred alone is immortal.

The confession of our failings is a thankless office. It savors less of sincerity or modesty than of ostentation. It seems as if we thought our weaknesses as good as other people's virtues.

In some situations, if you say nothing, you are called dull; if you talk, you are thought impertinent and arrogant. It is hard to know what to do in this case. The question seems to be, whether your vanity or your prudence predominates.

The greatest grossness sometimes accompanies the greatest refinement, as a natural relief.

Those who have the largest hearts have the soundest understandings; and they are the truest philosophers who can forget themselves.

A life of action and danger moderates the dread of death. It not only gives us fortitude to bear pain, but teaches us at every step the precarious tenure on which we hold our present being.

Persons of slender intellectual stamina dread competition, as dwarfs are afraid of being run over in the street.