“Any affectation whatsoever in dress implies, in my mind, a flaw in the understanding.”
“The only solid and lasting peace between a man and his wife is, doubtless, a separation.”
“I recommend you to take care of the minutes, for the hours will take care of themselves.”
“Be your character what it will, it will be known; and nobody will take it upon your word.”
“Men, as well as women, are much oftener led by their hearts than by their understandings.”
“Lord Tyrawley and I have been dead these two years, but we don't choose to have it known.”
“Let them show me a cottage where there are not the same vices of which they accuse the courts.”
“Knowledge may give weight, but accomplishments give luster, and many more people see than weigh.”
“A weak mind is like a microscope, which magnifies trifling things, but cannot receive great ones.”
“In the case of scandal, as in that of robbery, the receiver is always thought as bad as the thief.”
“A constant smirk upon the face, and a whiffing activity of the body, are strong indications of futility.”
“Our prejudices are our mistresses; reason is at best our wife, very often heard indeed, but seldom minded.”
“Young men are apt to think themselves wise enough, as drunken men are apt to think themselves sober enough.”
“Good breeding is the result of good sense, some good nature, and a little self-denial for the sake of others.”
“Politeness is as much concerned in answering letters within a reasonable time, as it is in returning a bow, immediately.”
“Patience is the most necessary quality for business, many a man would rather you heard his story than grant his request.”
“Little, vicious minds abound with anger and revenge, and are incapable of feeling the pleasure of forgiving their enemies.”
“The scholar without good breeding is a nitpicker; the philosopher a cynic; the soldier a brute and everyone else disagreeable.”
“I look upon indolence as a sort of suicide; for the man is effectually destroyed, though the appetites of the brute may survive.”
“No man tastes pleasures truly, who does not earn them by previous business; and few people do business well, who do nothing else.”
“The world is a country which nobody ever yet knew by description; one must travel through it one's self to be acquainted with it.”
“Let your enemies be disarmed by the gentleness of your manner, but at the same time let them feel, the steadiness of your resentment.”
“Most people have ears, but few have judgment; tickle those ears, and depend upon it, you will catch those judgments, such as they are.”
“There is nothing that people bear more impatiently, or forgive less, than contempt: and an injury is much sooner forgotten than an insult.”
“Buy good books, and read them; the best books are the commonest, and the last editions are always the best, if the editors are not blockheads.”
“As fathers commonly go, it is seldom a misfortune to be fatherless; and considering the general run of sons, as seldom a misfortune to be childless.”
“In matters of religion and matrimony I never give any advice; because I will not have anybody's torments in this world or the next laid to my charge.”
“Never hold anyone by the button or the hand in order to be heard out; for if people are unwilling to hear you, you had better hold your tongue than them.”
“I find, by experience, that the mind and the body are more than married, for they are most intimately united; and when one suffers, the other sympathizes.”
“Vice, in its true light, is so deformed, that it shocks us at first sight; and would hardly ever seduce us, if it did not at first wear the mask of some virtue.”