The way to get on in the world is to be neither more nor less wise, neither better nor worse than your neighbours.

The art of conversation is the art of hearing as well as of being heard.

Believe all the good you can of everyone. Do not measure others by yourself. If they have advantages which you have not, let your liberality keep pace with their good fortune. Envy no one, and you need envy no one.

Without the aid of prejudice and custom, I should not be able to find my way across the room.

When I take up a book I have read before, I know what to expect; the satisfaction is not lessened by being anticipated. I shake hands with, and look our old tried and valued friend in the face,--compare notes and chat the hour away.

Those who speak ill of the spiritual life, although they come and go by day, are like the smith's bellows: they take breath but are not alive.

Affectation is as necessary to the mind as dress is to the body.