The art of conversation is the art of hearing as well as of being heard.
The only impeccable writers are those who never wrote.
The perfect joys of heaven do not satisfy the cravings of nature.
The last pleasure in life is the sense of discharging our duty.
Our opinions are not our own, but in the power of sympathy. If a person tells us a palpable falsehood, we not only dare not contradict him, but we dare hardly disbelieve him to his face. A lie boldly uttered has the effect of truth for the instant.
Mankind are so ready to bestow their admiration on the dead, because the latter do not hear it, or because it gives no pleasure to the objects of it. Even fame is the offspring of envy.