A gentle word, a kind look, a good-natured smile can work wonders and accomplish miracles.

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.

It is not fit that every man should travel; it makes a wise man better, and a fool worse.

One truth discovered, one pang of regret at not being able to express it, is better than all the fluency and flippancy in the world.

Prejudice is never easy unless it can pass itself off for reason.

If we are long absent from our friends, we forget them; if we are constantly with them, we despise them.

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.