We may daily discover crowds acquire sufficient wealth to buy gentility, but very few that possess the virtues which ennoble human nature, and (in the best sense of the word) constitute a gentleman.

There are no persons more solicitous about the preservation of rank than those who have no rank at all. Observe the humors of a country christening, and you will find no court in Christendom so ceremonious as the quality of Brentford.

The making presents to a lady one addresses is like throwing armor into an enemy's camp, with a resolution to recover it.

A large retinue upon a small income, like a large cascade upon a small stream, tends to discover its tenuity.

Taste is pursued at a less expense than fashion.

Bashfulness is more frequently connected with good sense than we find assurance; and impudence, on the other hand, is often the mere effect of downright stupidity.

Fools are very often united in the strictest intimacies, as the lighter kinds of woods are the most closely glued together.