There is an unseemly exposure of the mind, as well as of the body.

In some situations, if you say nothing, you are called dull; if you talk, you are thought impertinent and arrogant. It is hard to know what to do in this case. The question seems to be, whether your vanity or your prudence predominates.

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.

Those who have the largest hearts have the soundest understandings; and they are the truest philosophers who can forget themselves.

Human life may be regarded as a succession of frontispieces. The way to be satisfied is never to look back.

It is easier taking the beaten path than making our way over bogs and precipices. The great difficulty in philosophy is to come to every question with a mind fresh and unshackled by former theories, though strengthened by exercise and information.

He who comes up to his own idea of greatness must always have had a very low standard of it in his mind.