Good breeding is the result of good sense, some good nature, and a little self-denial for the sake of others.

Honest error is to be pitied, not ridiculed.

Let them show me a cottage where there are not the same vices of which they accuse the courts.

Most people enjoy the inferiority of their best friends.

A young man, be his merit what it will, can never raise himself; but must, like the ivy round the oak, twine himself round some man of great power and interest.

Learning is acquired by reading books, but the much more necessary learning, the knowledge of the world, is only to be acquired by reading men, and studying all the various facets of them.

The world is a country which nobody ever yet knew by description; one must travel through it one's self to be acquainted with it.

There is nothing that people bear more impatiently, or forgive less, than contempt: and an injury is much sooner forgotten than an insult.

Young men are apt to think themselves wise enough, as drunken men are apt to think themselves sober enough.

If ever a man and his wife, or a man and his mistress, who pass nights as well as days together, absolutely lay aside all good breeding, their intimacy will soon degenerate into a coarse familiarity, infallibly productive of contempt or disgust.

It is always right to detect a fraud, and to perceive a folly; but it is very often wrong to expose either. A man of business should always have his eyes open, but must often seem to have them shut.

Idleness is only the refuge of weak minds.

Remember, as long as you live, that nothing but strict truth can carry you through the world, with either your conscience or your honor unwounded.

Persist and persevere, and you will find most things that are attainable, possible.

Politicians neither love nor hate. Interest, not sentiment, directs them.

I look upon indolence as a sort of suicide; for the man is effectually destroyed, though the appetites of the brute may survive.

Vice, in its true light, is so deformed, that it shocks us at first sight; and would hardly ever seduce us, if it did not at first wear the mask of some virtue.

The heart never grows better by age; I fear rather worse, always harder. A young liar will be an old one, and a young knave will only be a greater knave as he grows older.

Hear one side and you will be in the dark. Hear both and all will be clear.

Let your enemies be disarmed by the gentleness of your manner, but at the same time let them feel, the steadiness of your resentment.

Judgment is not upon all occasions required, but discretion always is.

Regularity in the hours of rising and retiring, perseverance in exercise, adaptation of dress to the variations of climate, simple and nutritious aliment, and temperance in all things are necessary branches of the regimen of health.

Modesty is the only sure bait when you angle for praise.

I recommend you to take care of the minutes, for the hours will take care of themselves.