“Too much society makes a man frivolous; too little, a savage.”

The passions are like fire, useful in a thousand ways and dangerous only in one, through their excess.

Winter is the night of vegetation.

A profusion of fancies and quotations is out of place in a love-letter. True feeling is always direct, and never deviates into by-ways to cull flowers of rhetoric.

What we call conscience in many instances, is only a wholesome fear of the law.

There is great beauty in going through life without anxiety or fear. Half our fears are baseless, and the other half discreditable.

There is probably no hell for authors in the next world – they suffer so much from critics and publishers in this.

Kindred weaknesses induce friendships as often as kindred virtues.

The heart contracts as the pocket expands.

Hope is the best part of our riches.

Alas, the transports beauty can inspire!

The small courtesies sweeten life; the greater ennoble it.

Four sweet lips, two pure souls, and one undying affection, – these are love’s pretty ingredients for a kiss.

In the assurance of strength there is strength; and they are the weakest, however strong, who have no faith in themselves or their powers.

It is the passion that is in a kiss that gives to it its sweetness; it is the affection in a kiss that sanctifies it.

A book should be luminous not voluminous.

We give our best affections to the beautiful, only our second best to the useful.

The man who makes everything that leads to happiness depends upon himself, and not upon other men, has adopted the very best plan for living happily. This is the man of moderation, the man of manly character and of wisdom.

He who defends with love will be secure; Heaven will save him, and protect him with love.

When you see a man in distress, recognize him as a fellow man.

Whenever men and women straighten their backs up, they are going somewhere, because a man can’t ride your back unless it is bent

My costume helps me to express my conception of the average man, of almost any man, of myself.

No man should receive a dollar unless that dollar has been fairly earned.

Every Christian would agree that a man’s spiritual health is exactly proportional to his love for God.

Don’t judge a man by where he is, because you don’t know how far he has come.