A man who does not endeavour to seem more than he is will generally be thought nothing of. We habitually make such large deductions for pretence and imposture that no real merit will stand against them. It is necessary to set off our good qualities with a certain air of plausibility and self-importance, as some attention to fashion is necessary.

To impress the idea of power on others, they must be made in some way to feel it.

Love turns, with a little indulgence, to indifference or disgust; hatred alone is immortal.

Man is a poetical animal, and delights in fiction.

When I am in the country, I wish to vegetate like the country.

A proud man is satisfied with his own good opinion, and does not seek to make converts to it.

The last pleasure in life is the sense of discharging our duty.