Ridicule is the best test of truth.

The more one works, the more willing one is to work.

Vicious minds abound with anger and revenge are incapable of feeling the pleasure of forgiving their enemies.

A weak mind is like a microscope, which magnifies trifling things but cannot receive great ones.

Be wiser than other people if you can but do not tell them so.

The pleasure is momentary, the position rediculous, and the expense damnable.

Man is more himself, man is more manlike, when joy is the fundamental thing in him, and grief the superficial.

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

That ready wit, which you so partially allow me, ... may create many admirers; but, take my word for it, it makes few friends. It shines and dazzles like the noonday sun, but, like that, too, it is very apt to scorch, and therefore is always feared. The milder morning and evening light and heat of that planet soothe and calm our minds. Never seek for wit; if it present itself, well and good; but even then, let your judgement interpose, and take care that it be not at the expense of anybody.

Democracy means government by the uneducated, while aristocracy means government by the badly educated.

Wear your learning, like your watch, in a private pocket and do not pull it out and strike it, merely to show that you have one.