One cause, which is not always observed, of the insufficiency of riches, is that they very seldom make their owner rich.
I am the wisest man alive, for I know one thing, and that is that I know nothing.
The virtue in most request is conformity.
To have in general but little feeling, seems to be the only security against feeling too much on any particular occasion.
Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself.
Goodness is the only investment which never fails.
Society is always taken by surprise at any new example of common sense.
We worship not the Graces, nor the Parcae, but Fashion. She spins and weaves and cuts with full authority. The head monkey at Paris puts on a traveler’s cap, and all the monkeys in America do the same.
Nothing is too high for the daring of mortals: we storm heaven itself in our folly.
Our words have wings, but fly not where we would.
What quarrel, what harshness, what unbelief in each other can subsist in the presence of a great calamity, when all the artificial vesture of our life is gone, and we are all one with each other in primitive mortal needs?
Perfect freedom is reserved for the man who lives by his work and in that work he does what he wants to do.
Those people who will not be governed by God will be ruled by tyrants.
Culture is one thing and varnish is another.
You perceive I generalize with intrepidity from single instances. It is the tourist’s custom.
To be in time is to be asleep: to be awake is to be in eternity.
I think a compliment ought to always precede a complaint, where one is possible, because it softens resentment and insures for the complaint a courteous and gentle reception.
Letters are like wine; if they are sound they ripen with keeping. A man should lay down letters as he does a cellar of wine.
Books are delightful society. If you go into a room and find it full of books – even without taking them from the shelves they seem to speak to you, to bid you welcome.
I am reminded of the professor who, in his declining hours, was asked by his devoted pupils for his final counsel. He replied, ‘Verify your quotations.’
We must use time wisely and forever realize that the time is always ripe to do right.
