A man has generally the good or ill qualities which he attributes to mankind.
I trimmed my lamp, consumed the midnight oil.
Whoe'er excels in what we prize, appears a hero in our eyes.
The works of a person that begin immediately to decay, while those of him who plants begin directly to improve. In this, planting promises a more lasting pleasure than building; which, were it to remain in equal perfection, would at best begin to moulder and want repairs in imagination. Now trees have a circumstance that suits our taste, and that is annual variety.
The love of popularity seems little else than the love of being beloved; and is only blamable when a person aims at the affections of a people by means in appearance honest, but in their end pernicious and destructive.
I am thankful that my name in obnoxious to no pun.
The difference there is betwixt honor and honesty seems to be chiefly the motive; the mere honest man does that from duty which the man of honor does for the sake of character.
Let us be careful to distinguish modesty, which is ever amiable, from reserve, which is only prudent.
In a heavy oppressive atmosphere, when the spirits sink too low, the best cordial is to read over all the letters of one's friends.
Prudent men lock up their motives, letting familiars have a key to their hearts, as to their garden.
Reserve is no more essentially connected with understanding than a church organ with devotion, or wine with good-nature.
Fashion is a great restraint upon your persons of taste and fancy; who would otherwise in the most trifling instances be able to distinguish themselves from the vulgar.
Those who are incapable of shining out by dress would do well to consider that the contrast between them and their clothes turns out much to their disadvantage.
Men of quality never appear more amiable than when their dress is plain. Their birth, rank, title and its appendages are at best indivious and as they do not need the assistance of dress, so, by their disclaiming the advantage of it, they make their superiority sit more easy.
A rich dress adds but little to the beauty of a person. It may possibly create a deference, but that is rather an enemy to love.
Harmony of period and melody of style have greater weight than is generally imagined in the judgment we pass upon writing and writers. As a proof of this, let us reflect what texts of scripture, what lines in poetry, or what periods we most remember and quote, either in verse or prose, and we shall find them to be only musical ones.
Persons are oftentimes misled in regard to their choice of dress by attending to the beauty of colors, rather than selecting such colors as may increase their own beauty.
May I always have a heart superior, with economy suitable, to my fortune.
When self-interest inclines a man to print, he should consider that the purchaser expects a pennyworth for his penny, and has reason to asperse his honesty if he finds himself deceived.
There is a certain flimsiness of poetry which seems expedient in a song.
There would not be any absolute necessity for reserve if the world were honest; yet even then it would prove expedient. For, in order to attain any degree of deference, it seems necessary that people should imagine you have more accomplishments than you discover.
Persons who discover a flatterer, do not always disapprove him, because he imagines them considerable enough to deserve his applications.
So sweetly she bade me adieu, I thought that she bade me return.
A man of remarkable genius may afford to pass by a piece of wit, if it happen to border on abuse. A little genius is obliged to catch at every witticism indiscriminately.
Wit is the refractory pupil of judgment.
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