A harmless hilarity and a buoyant cheerfulness are not infrequent concomitants of genius; and we are never more deceived than when we mistake gravity for greatness, solemnity for science, and pomposity for erudition. |
A house may draw visitors, but it is the possessor alone that can detain them |
A man who knows the world will not only make the most of everything he does know, but of many things that he does not know; and will gain more credit by his adroit mode of hiding his ignorance than the pendant by his awkward attempt to exhibit his er |
Afflictions sent by providence melt the constancy of the noble minded, but confirm the obduracy of the vile, as the same furnace that liquefies the gold, hardens the clay |
All adverse and depressing influences can be overcome, not by fighting, but by rising above them |
Ambition makes the same mistake concerning power that avarice makes concerning wealth. She begins by accumulating power as a means to happiness, and she finishes by continuing to accumulate it as an end. |
An Irishman fights before he reasons, a Scotchman reasons before he fights, an Englishman is not particular as to the order of precedence, but will do either to accommodate his customers |
Anguish of mind has driven thousands to suicide; anguish of body, none. This proves that the health of the mind is of far more consequence to our happiness than the health of the body, although both are deserving of much more attention than either of them receive. |
As no roads are so rough as those that have just been mended, so no sinners are so intolerant as those that have just turned saints |
Avarice has ruined more souls than extravagance. |
Be very slow to believe that you are wiser than all others; it is a fatal but common error |
Bigotry murders religion to frighten fools, with her ghost |
Books, like friends, should be few and well chosen. Like friends, too, we should return to them again and again for, like true friends, they will never fail us - never cease to instruct - never cloy. |
Commerce flourishes by circumstances, precarious, transitory, contingent, almost as the winds and waves that bring it to our shores. |
Constant success shows us but one side of the world; adversity brings out the reverse of the picture |