Silence propagates itself, and the longer talk has been suspended, the more difficult it is to find anything to say.
If a madman were to come into this room with a stick in his hand, no doubt we should pity the state of his mind; but our primary consideration would be to take care of ourselves. We should knock him down first, and pity him afterwards.
The poor and the busy have no leisure for sentimental sorrow.
While grief is fresh, every attempt to divert it only irritates.
Our desires always increase with our possessions. The knowledge that something remains yet unenjoyed impairs our enjoyment of the good before us.
It is better to suffer wrong than to do it, and happier to be sometimes cheated than not to trust.
Every man has a right to utter what he thinks is truth, and every other man has a right to knock him down for it.
It is better to live rich than to die rich.
Life is short. The sooner that a man begins to enjoy his wealth the better.
Men know that women are an overmatch for them, and therefore they choose the weakest or the most ignorant. If they did not think so, they never could be afraid of women knowing as much as themselves.
When speculation has done its worst, two and two still make four.
Every other author may aspire to praise; the lexicographer can only hope to escape reproach.
Read over your compositions, and when you meet a passage which you think is particularly fine, strike it out.
The best part of every author is in general to be found in his book, I assure you.
When an author is yet living, we estimate his powers by his worst performance; and when he is dead, we rate them by his best.
The man who is asked by an author what he thinks of his work is put to the torture and is not obliged to speak the truth.
What is written without effort is in general read without pleasure.
Your manuscript is both good and original; but the parts that are good are not original, and the parts that are original are not good.
Much may be made of a Scotchman if he be caught young.
It is necessary to hope... for hope itself is happiness.