“We listen with deep interest to what we hear, for to man novelty is ever charming.”

Nature makes us buy her presents at the price of so many sufferings that it is doubtful whether she deserves most the name of parent or stepmother.

Hope is the pillar that holds up the world. Hope is the dream of a waking man.

The enjoyments of this life are not equal to its evils.

In comparing various authors with one another, I have discovered that some of the gravest and latest writers have transcribed, word for word, from former works, without making acknowledgment.

Wine refreshes the stomach, sharpens the appetite, blunts care and sadness, and conduces to slumber.

Example is the softest and least invidious way of commanding.

This only is certain, that there is nothing certain.

….shellfish are the prime cause of the decline of morals and the adaptation of an extravagant lifestyle.

In time of sickness the soul collects itself anew.

But with man, — by Hercules! most of his misfortunes are occasioned by man.

Indeed, what is there that does not appear marvelous when it comes to our knowledge for the first time? How many things, too, are looked up on as quite impossible until they have been actually effected?

Many dishes bring many diseases.

Chance is a second master.

The brain is the citadel of sense perception.

Men are most apt to believe what they least understand; and through the lust of human wit obscure things are more easily credited.

Human nature craves novelty.

There is no shame like poor shame. It can make you warm and charming, bitter and resentful, all at once.

But I was very, very unhappy because my mother was very charming and generous, but to me, very dominating.

Ronald Reagan was this actor who was going to be president, and he was very charming. What he had was, he talked about America in ways that got people all caught up in it. He was creating this America – it could even be the mythical “America” – that we subscribe to.

The good news is that economists are intelligent, engaging and often charming folks. The bad news is their work is often of little use to investors.

I’ve talked to Bill Clinton – he’s the ultimate rock star; no one’s more charming than him. People clap in a restaurant when he finishes dinner! I don’t get that treatment. I get it when I walk onstage, but not when I have dinner.

You are very amiable, no doubt, but you would be charming if you would only depart.

Like simplicity and candor, and other much-commented qualities, enthusiasm is charming until we meet it face to face, and cannot escape from its charm.

The most charming thing about youth is the tenacity of its impressions.