Physiognomy is not a guide that has been given us by which to judge of the character of men: it may only serve us for conjecture. [Fr., La physionomi….

Death happens but once, yet we feel it every moment of our lives; it is worse to dread it than to suffer it..

The spendthrift robs his heirs the miser robs himself..

A man must have very eminent qualities to hold his own without being polite..

I cannot forbid a person to marry several wives, for it does not contradict Scripture. MARTIN LUTHER, letter to Chancellor Gregory Brück, January 13,….

A well-born man is fortunate, but so is the man about whom people no longer ask, 'is he well-born?'.

Praise, of all things, is the most powerful excitement to commendable actions, and animates us in our enterprises..

There are certain things in which mediocrity is intolerable: poetry, music, painting, public eloquence. What torture it is to hear a frigid speech be….

It is the glory and merit of some men to write well and of others not to write at all..

Making a book is a craft, like making a clock; it needs more than native wit to be an author..

It is very rare to find ground which produces nothing; if it is not covered with flowers, with fruit trees and grains, it produces briers and pines. ….

The pleasure a man of honor enjoys in the consciousness of having performed his duty is a reward he pays himself for all his pains..

Eloquence may be found in conversations and in all kinds of writings; it is rarely found when looked for, and sometimes discovered where it is least ….

The flatterer does not think highly enough of himself or of others..

Eloquence is to the sublime what the whole is to the part..

We can recognize the dawn and the decline of love by the uneasiness we feel when alone together..

The events we most desire do not happen; or, if they do, it is neither in the time nor in the circumstances when they would have given us extreme ple….

It is more or less rude to scorn indiscriminately all kinds of praise; we ought to be proud of that which comes from honest men, who praise sincerely….

A man only goes and confesses his faults to the world when his self will not acknowledge or listen to them. WYNDHAM LEWIS, Tarr Two persons will not ….

The great gift of conversation lies less in displaying it ourselves than in drawing it out of others. He who leaves your company pleased with himself….

Foolish jokers are thick on the ground, and it rains insects of that sort everywhere. A good joker is a rarity; even a man who is such by nature find….