“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.”

What would you do if you knew for sure that no one would ever find out?

The family is the most basic unit of government. As the first community to which a person is attached and the first authority under which a person learns to live, the family establishes society’s most basic values.

The man of pleasure, by a vain attempt to be more happy than any man can be, is often more miserable than most men are.

Sometimes the greatest adversities turn out to be the greatest blessings.

The art of declamation has been sinking in value from the moment that speakers were foolish enough to publish, and hearers wise enough to read.

An Irish man fights before he reasons, a Scotchman reasons before he fights, an Englishman is not particular as to the order of precedence, but will do either to accommodate his customers.

It may be observed of good writing, as of good blood, that it is much easier to say what it is composed of than to compose it.

In life we shall find many men that are great, and some that are good, but very few men that are both great and good.

There is this difference between happiness and wisdom; he that thinks himself the happiest man, really is so; but he that thinks himself the wisest, is generally the greatest fool.

The rich are more envied by those who have a little, than by those who have nothing.

True friendship is like sound health; the value of it is seldom known until it is lost.

Cruel men are the greatest lovers of Mercy, avaricious men of generosity, and proud men of humility; that is to say, in other, not in themselves.

Pure truth, like pure gold, has been found unfit for circulation because men have discovered that it is far more convenient to adulterate the truth than to refine themselves.

That which we acquire with the most difficulty we retain the longest; as those who have earned a fortune are usually more careful of it than those who have inherited one.

Silence is foolish if we are wise, but wise if we are foolish.

Imitation is the sincerest of flattery.

The cheerful loser is a sort of winner.

The cheerful live longest in years, and afterwards in our regards. Cheerfulness is the off-shoot of goodness.

Difficulties, by bracing the mind to overcome them, assist cheerfulness, as exercise assists digestion.

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.