Humour is the making others act or talk absurdly and unconsciously; wit is the pointing out and ridiculing that absurdity consciously, and with more or less ill-nature.

To great evils we submit, we resent little provocations.

Truth from the mouth of an honest man and severity from a good-natured man have a double effect.

Well I've had a happy life.

A scholar is like a book written in a dead language. It is not every one that can read in it.

By retaliating our sufferings on the heads of those we love, we get rid of a present uneasiness and incur lasting remorse. With the accomplishment of our revenge our fondness returns; so that we feel the injury we have done them, even more than they do.

The greatest grossness sometimes accompanies the greatest refinement, as a natural relief.