Humour is the describing the ludicrous as it is in itself; wit is the exposing it, by comparing or contrasting it with something else. Humour is, as it were, the growth of nature and accident; wit is the product of art and fancy.

The difference between the vanity of a Frenchman and an Englishman seems to be this: the one thinks everything right that is French, the other thinks everything wrong that is not English.

There is a heroism in crime as well as in virtue. Vice and infamy have their altars and their religion.

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

Life is a continued struggle to be what we are not, and to do what we cannot.

We trifle with, make sport of, and despise those who are attached to us, and follow those that fly from us.

People do not seem to talk for the sake of expressing their opinions, but to maintain an opinion for the sake of talking.