Need drives men to envy as fullness drives them to selfishness..

History is not written in the interests of morality..

Where there is no temptation, there is no virtue..

the most comfortable characteristic of the period [1775-1825], and the one which incites our deepest envy, is the universal willingness to accept a g….

There are few things more wearisome in a fairly fatiguing life than the monotonous repetition of a phrase which catches and holds the public fancy by….

the audience is the controlling factor in the actor's life. It is practically infallible, since there is no appeal from its verdict. It is a little l….

I am seventy years old, a gray age weighted with uncompromising biblical allusions. It ought to have a gray outlook, but it hasn't, because a glint o….

Neatness of phrase is so closely akin to wit that it is often accepted as its substitute..

We cannot hope to scale great moral heights by ignoring petty obligations..

The choice of a topic which will bear analysis and support enthusiasm, is essential to the enjoyment of conversation..

The well-ordered mind knows the value, no less than the charm, of reticence. The fruit of the tree of knowledge ... falls ripe from its stem; but tho….

When the milk of human kindness turns sour, it is a singularly unpalatable draught..

The vanity of man revolts from the serene indifference of the cat..

real letter-writing ... is founded on a need as old and as young as humanity itself, the need that one human being has of another..

whereas the dog strives to lessen the distance between himself and man, seeks ever to be intelligent and intelligible, and translates into looks and ….

Wit is a pleasure-giving thing, largely because it eludes reason; but in the apprehension of an absurdity through the working of the comic spirit the….

Diaries tell their little tales with a directness, a candor, conscious or unconscious, a closeness of outlook, which gratifies our sense of security.….

The gospel of cheerfulness, I had almost said the gospel of amusement, is preached by people who lack experience to people who lack vitality. There i….

abroad it is our habit to regard all other travelers in the light of personal and unpardonable grievances. They are intruders into our chosen realms ….

A man who owns a dog is, in every sense of the words, its master; the term expresses accurately their mutual relations. But it is ridiculous when app….

The soul begins to travel when the child begins to think..