When an opinionated person starts to challenge something, his mind shuts out all that could clear up the matter. The argument irritates him, however ….

Social intercourse, even friendship among most people, is a merely a business arrangement that lasts only so long as there is need..

It is a singular characteristic of love that we cannot hide it where it exists, or pretend it where it does not exist..

Sometimes we praise the way things used to be in order to blame the present, and we esteem what is no longer in order to scorn what is..

We need not regard what good a friend has done us, but only his desire to do us good..

There is as much wisdom in soliciting good counsel as in giving it. The most sensible people are not reluctant to consider the feelings of other peop….

All the great amusements are dangerous for the Christian life..

Although we should not love our friends for the good that they do us, it is a sign that they do not love us much if they do not do us good when they ….

The conversation of those who like to lord it over us is very disagreeable. But we should always be ready to graciously acknowledge the truth, no mat….

Often our good deeds make enemies for us, and the ungrateful person despises us on two counts; for he is not only unwilling to acknowledge the gratit….

Those who foolishly pride themselves on their nobility mistake that which makes them noble, for it is only the virtue of their ancestors that gives t….

The shame that comes to us as we see ourselves praised when we are unworthy of it often gives us the occasion to accomplish things that we might neve….

Good fortune almost always makes some change in a man's behavior - in his manner of speaking and acting. It is a great weakness to want to bedeck one….

We would often rather seem dutiful to others than to succeed in our duties; and often we would rather tell our friends that we have done them good th….

Good results are sometimes owing to a failure of judgment, because the faculty of judgment often hinders us from undertaking many things which would ….

It is such a great fault to talk too much that, in business and conversation, if what is good is also brief, it is doubly good, and one gains by brev….

Mean-spirited mediocrities, especially those with a smattering of learning, are the most likely to be opinionated. Only strong minds know how to corr….

It is neither a great praise nor a great blame when people say a tendency is in or out of fashion. If a tendency is as it should be at one time, it i….

Self-love is almost always the ruling principle of our friendships. It makes us avoid all our obligations in unprofitable situations, and even causes….

There is a certain hidden mediocrity in those who are stationed above us in life, an ability to take liberties in their pursuit of pleasures and dive….

Often the desire to appear competent impedes our ability to become competent, because we more anxious to display our knowledge than to learn what we ….