“There is nothing so slipperily alluring as sadness; we become sad in the first place by having nothing stirring to do; we continue in it, because we have found a snug sofa at last.”

Hope is the struggle of the soul, breaking loose from what is perishable, and attesting her eternity.

We are only what we are; not what we would be; nor every thing we hope for. We are but a step in a scale, that reaches further above us than below.

Dream tonight of peacock tails, Diamond fields and spouter whales. Ills are many, blessing few, But dreams tonight will shelter you.

Better to sleep with a sober cannibal than a drunken Christian.

The only true infidelity is for a live man to vote himself dead.

All things that God would have us do are hard for us to do–remember that–and hence, he oftener commands us than endeavours to persuade.

There is no quality in this world that is not what it is merely by contrast. Nothing exists in itself.

My body is but the lees of my better being.

There are some enterprises in which a careful disorderliness is the true method.

The worst of our evils we blindly inflict upon ourselves; our officers cannot remove them, even if they would.

Meditation and water are wedded for ever.

The eyes are the gateway to the soul.

Life’s a voyage that’s homeward bound.

All round and round does the world lie as in a sharp-shooter’s ambush, to pick off the beautiful illusions of youth, by the pitiless cracking rifles of the realities of age.

Faith, like a jackal, feeds among the tombs, and even from these dead doubts she gathers her most vital hope.

See how elastic our prejudices grow when once love comes to bend them.

I want them either intellectually stimulating or wonderfully corny; perfectly charming or hundred percent stinker.

Bill Clinton was relentless, eloquent and truly charming.

Almost anybody would rather be known for expert shoe-tying than for kicking the cat.” She always tells whiners how charming they are–bullies how brave–bad sports how good–sneaks how honest!

The more charming person is the person who admits the other person is more charming.

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.