“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.”

Sturdy beggars can bear stout denials.

None are so fond of secrets as those who do not mean to keep them.

Let those who would affect singularity with success first determine to be very virtuous, and they will be sure to be very singular.

That is fine benevolence, finely executed, which, like the Nile, comes from hidden sources.

That is true beauty which has not only a substance, but a spirit; a beauty that we must intimately know, justly to appreciate.

Liberty will not descend to a people; a people must raise themselves to liberty; it is a blessing that must be earned before it can be enjoyed.

Some persons will tell you, with an air of the miraculous, that they recovered although they were given over; whereas they might with more reason have said, they recovered because they were given over.

There are three kinds of praise, that which we yield, that which we lend, and that which we pay. We yield it to the powerful from fear, we lend it to the weak from interest, and we pay it to the deserving from gratitude.

The good opinion of our fellow men is the strongest, though not the purest motive to virtue.

Law and equity are two things which God has joined, but which man has put asunder.

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.

There are both dull correctness and piquant carelessness; it is needless to say which will command the most readers and have the most influence.

He that is gone so far as to cut the claws of the lion, will not feel himself quite secure, until he has also drawn his teeth.

As that gallant can best affect a pretended passion for one woman who has no true love for another, so he that has no real esteem for any of the virtues can best assume the appearance of them all.

The mistakes of the fool are known to the world, but not to himself. The mistakes of the wise man are known to himself, but not to the world.

He that has energy enough to root out a vice should go further, and try to plant a virtue in its place.

Let’s be cheerful! We have no more right to steal the brightness out of the day for our own family than we have to steal the purse of a stranger.

I am watching the Earth. The visibility is good. I feel well and cheerful. The machine is functioning normally.

The banjo is such a happy instrument–you can’t play a sad song on the banjo – it always comes out so cheerful.

People in general want to build somebody up and then try to knock them down. They always root for the underdog.

A poet is a nightingale, who sits in darkness and sings to cheer its own solitude with sweet sounds.

Encourage one another. Many times a word of praise or thanks or appreciation or cheer has kept people on their feet.

Nothing is more graceful than habitual cheerfulness.

The warmth is spring is near. It smells of hope and cheer. The budding bulbs of daffodils will end the endless fear.