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

People do not seem to talk for the sake of expressing their opinions, but to maintain an opinion for the sake of talking.

I like a person who knows his own mind and sticks to it; who sees at once what, in given circumstances, is to be done, and does it.

The insolence of the vulgar is in proportion to their ignorance. They treat everything with contempt which they do not understand.

We had rather do anything than acknowledge the merit of another if we can help it. We cannot bear a superior or an equal. Hence ridicule is sure to prevail over truth, for the malice of mankind, thrown into the scale, gives the casting weight.

Death is the greatest evil, because it cuts off hope.

Humour is the describing the ludicrous as it is in itself; wit is the exposing it, by comparing or contrasting it with something else. Humour is, as it were, the growth of nature and accident; wit is the product of art and fancy.