 The two most precious things this side of the grave are our reputation and our life. But it is to be lamented that the most contemptible whisper may deprive us of the one, and the weakest weapon of the other. |
| 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. |
| Next to acquiring good friends, the best acquisition is that of good books. |
| Our income are like our shoes; if too small, they gall and pinch us; but if too large, they cause us to stumble and trip. |
| There is nothing more imprudent than excessive prudence. |
| When millions applaud you seriously ask yourself what harm you have done; and when they disapprove you, what good. |
| No company is preferable to bad. We are more apt to catch the vices of others than virtues, as disease is far more contagious than health. |
| Marriage is a feast where the grace is sometimes better than the dinner. Topics: Marriage |
| True contentment depends not upon what we have; a tub was large enough for Diogenes, but a world was too little for Alexander. |
| To dare to live alone is the rarest courage; since there are many who had rather meet their bitterest enemy in the field, than their own hearts in their closet. |
| Moderation is the inseparable companion of wisdom, but with it genius has not even a nodding acquaintance. |
| Happiness, that grand mistress of the ceremonies in the dance of life, impels us through all its mazes and meanderings, but leads none of us by the same route. |
| Suicide sometimes proceeds from cowardice, but not always; for cowardice sometimes prevents it; since as many live because they are afraid to die, as die because they are afraid to live. |
| Law and equity are two things which God has joined, but which man has put asunder. |
| The society of dead authors has this advantage over that of the living: they never flatter us to our faces, nor slander us behind our backs, nor intrude upon our privacy, nor quit their shelves until we take them down. |
| Men are born with two eyes, but with one tongue, in order that they should see twice as much as they say. |
| That writer does the most who gives his reader the most knowledge and takes from him the least time. |
| Examinations are formidable even to the best prepared, for the greatest fool may ask more than the wisest man can answer. |
| Friendship, of itself a holy tie, is made more sacred by adversity. |
| He that knows himself, knows others; and he that is ignorant of himself, could not write a very profound lecture on other men's heads. |
