If our hours were all serene, we might probably take almost as little note of them as the dial does of those that are clouded.

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.

As hypocrisy is said to be the highest compliment to virtue, the art of lying is the strongest acknowledgment of the force of truth.

We learn to curb our will and keep our overt actions within the bounds of humanity, long before we can subdue our sentiments and imaginations to the same mild tone.

To think ill of mankind and not wish ill to them, is perhaps the highest wisdom and virtue.

Poverty is the test of civility and the touchstone of friendship.

The more a man writes, the more he can write.