“The Irish are a fair people: They never speak well of one another.”

Bachelors have consciences, married men have wives.

Every man is rich or poor according to the proportion between his desires and his enjoyments.

How small of all that human hearts endure, That part which laws or kings can cause or cure.

Men who stand in the highest ranks of society seldom hear of their faults; if by any accident an opprobrious clamour reaches their ears, flattery is always at hand to pour in her opiates, to quiet conviction and obtund remorse.

A man who uses a great many words to express his meaning is like a bad marksman who, instead of aiming a single stone at an object, takes up a handful and throws at it in hopes he may hit.

My dear friend, clear your mind of can’t.

Your manuscript is both good and original; but the part that is good is not original, and the part that is original is not good.

Fraud and falsehood only dread examination. Truth invites it.

He who has so little knowledge of human nature as to seek happiness by changing anything but his own disposition will waste his life in fruitless efforts.

People need to be reminded more often than they need to be instructed.

What ever the motive for the insult, it is always best to overlook it; for folly doesn’t deserve resentment, and malice is punished by neglect.

Power is gradually stealing away from the many to the few, because the few are more vigilant and consistent.

The wise man applauds he who he thinks most virtuous; the rest of the world applauds the wealthy.

Pride is a vice, which pride itself inclines every man to find in others, and to overlook in himself.

Ignorance, when it is voluntary, is criminal; and he may be properly charged with evil who refused to learn how he might prevent it.

He who waits to do a great deal of good at once will never do anything.

Whatever one is creating, one has to stick to one’s guns and just do it. That is all. Put your foot down and do not let your work be compromised.

To be naked is to be oneself.

As one grows older one becomes more critical of oneself and less of other people.

When one first seeks the truth, one separates oneself from it.

To be naked is to be oneself. To be nude is to be seen naked by others and yet not recognised for oneself.

Abusive language and swearing are a legacy of slavery, humiliation, and disrespect for human dignity, one’s own and that of other people.

Freeing oneself from words is liberation.

The double pleasure of pulling down an opponent, and of raising oneself, is the charm of a politician’s life.