Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
Two people cannot be alone together for upwards of half an hour without one emerging as the superior.
Men are much more unwilling to have their weaknesses and their imperfections known than their crimes.
In business be as able as you can, but do not be cunning; cunning is the dark sanctuary of incapacity.
In nature the most violent passions are silent; in tragedy they must speak and speak with dignity too.
The young leading the young, is like the blind leading the blind; "they will both fall into the ditch.
I have, by long experience, found women to be like Telephus's spear: if one end kills, the other cures.
A proper secrecy is the only mystery of able men; mystery is the only secrecy of weak and cunning ones.
An honest man may really love a pretty girl, but only an idiot marries her merely because she is pretty.
To know a little of anything gives neither satisfaction nor credit, but often brings disgrace or ridicule.
Our prejudices are our mistresses; reason is at best our wife, very often heard indeed, but seldom minded.
To take a wife merely as an agreeable and rational companion, will commonly be found to be a grand mistake.
Young men are apt to think themselves wise enough, as drunken men are apt to think themselves sober enough.
The heart has such an influence over the understanding, that it is worth while to engage it in our interest.
The manner of a vulgar man has freedom without ease, and the manner of a gentleman has ease without freedom.
Good breeding is the result of good sense, some good nature, and a little self-denial for the sake of others.
The value of moments, when cast up, is immense, if well employed; if thrown away, their loss is irrecoverable.
Man is more himself, man is more manlike, when joy is the fundamental thing in him, and grief the superficial.
There is hardly anybody good for everything, and there is scarcely anybody who is absolutely good for nothing.
Give nobly to indigent merit, and do not refuse your charity even to those who have not merit but their misery.
Singularity is only pardonable in old age and retirement; I may now be as singular as I please, but you may not.
Very ugly or very beautiful women should be flattered on their understanding, and mediocre ones on their beauty.
It is by vivacity and wit that man shines in company; but trite jokes and loud laughter reduce him to a buffoon.
We are really so prejudiced by our educations, that, as the ancients deified their heroes, we deify their madmen.
The power of applying attention, steady and undissipated, to a single object, is the sure mark of superior genius.
I am in the pitiable situation of feeling all the force of temptation without having the strength to succumb to it.
A man who cannot command his temper, his attention, and his countenance should not think of being a man of business.
Common sense (which, in truth, is very uncommon) is the best sense I know of: abide by it; it will counsel you best.
No man can possibly improve in any company for which he has not respect enough to be under some degree of restraint.
Half the business is done, when one has gained the heart and the affections of those with whom one is to transact it.
Words are the dress of thoughts; which should no more be presented in rags, tatters, and dirt than your person should.
I love every-day senses, every-day wit and entertainment; a man who is only good on holidays, is good for very little.
If you have wit, use it to please and not to hurt: you may shine like the sun in the temperate zones without scorching.
When you have found out the prevailing passion of any man, remember never to trust him where that passion is concerned.
Little vicious minds abound with anger and revenge and are incapable of feeling te pleasure of forgiving their enemies.
Physical ills are the taxes laid upon this wretched life; some are taxed higher, and some lower, but all pay something.
Never write down your speeches beforehand; if you do, you may perhaps be a good declaimer, but will never be a debater.
Good manners are the settled medium of social, as specie is of commercial, life; returns are equally expected for both.
Patience is the most necessary quality for business, many a man would rather you heard his story than grant his request.
Most arts require long study and application, but the most useful art of all, that of pleasing, requires only the desire.
Cardinal Mazarin was a great knave, but no great man; much more cunning than able; scandalously false and dirtily greedy.
Being pretty on the inside means you don't hit your brother and you eat all your peas - that's what my grandma taught me.
True politeness is perfect ease and freedom. It simply consists in treating others just as you love to be treated yourself.
I assisted at the birth of that most significant word "flirtation," which dropped from the most beautiful mouth in the world.
Women who are either indisputably beautiful, or indisputably ugly, are best flattered upon the score of their understandings.
Let us not only scatter benefits, but even strew flowers for our fellow-travellers, in the rugged ways of this wretched world.
We are in truth, more than half what we are by imitation. The great point is to choose good models and to study them with care.
Women have, in general, but ne object, which is their beauty; upon which, scarce any flattery is too gross for them to swallow.
I look upon indolence as a sort of suicide; for the man is effectually destroyed, though the appetites of the brute may survive.
Speak of the moderns without contempt and of the ancients without idolatry; judge them all by their merits, but not by their age
A young fellow ought to be wiser than he should seem to be; and an old fellow ought to seem wise whether he really be so or not.