“I am a man who, from his youth upwards, has been filled with a profound conviction that the easiest way of life is the best.”

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.

It is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation.

Truth uncompromisingly told will always have its ragged edges.

Of all the preposterous assumptions of humanity over humanity, nothing exceeds most of the criticisms made on the habits of the poor by the well-housed, well- warmed, and well-fed.

Art is the objectification of feeling.

You know nothing till you know all; which is the reason we never know any thing.

Nature is nobody’s ally.

To know how to grow old is the master work of wisdom, and one of the most difficult chapters in the great art of living.

There is a savor of life and immortality in substantial fare. Like balloons, we are nothing till filled.

I am, as I am; whether hideous, or handsome, depends upon who is made judge.

Let us speak, though we show all our faults and weaknesses, – for it is a sign of strength to be weak, to know it, and out with it – not in a set way and ostentatiously, though, but incidentally and without premeditation.

A smile is the chosen vehicle of all ambiguities.

I know not all that may be coming, but be it what it will, I’ll go to it laughing.

Tis no dishonor when he who would dishonor you, only dishonors himself.

Man is a money-making animal, which propensity too often interferes with his benevolence.