There is no flattery so adroit or effectual as that of implicit assent.

A felon could plead "benefit of clergy" and be saved by [reading aloud] what was aptly enough termed the "neck verse", which was very usually the Miserere mei of Psalm 51.

The most fluent talkers or most plausible reasoners are not always the justest thinkers.

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

The most sensible people to be met with in society are men of business and of the world, who argue from what they see and know, instead of spinning cobweb distinctions of what things ought to be.

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

The best way to make ourselves agreeable to others is by seeming to think them so. If we appear fully sensible of their good qualities they will not complain of the want of them in us.