“Quarrels would not last long if the fault was only on one side.”

“Raillery is more insupportable than wrong; because we have a right to resent injuries, but are ridiculous in being angry at a jest.”

“People are more slanderous from vanity than from malice.”

“We are more often treacherous through weakness than through calculation.”

“We often act treacherously more from weakness than from a fixed motive.”

“The need for a rational consistency is the hobgoblin of small minds.”

“The characteristic of genuine heroism is its persistency. All men have wandering impulses, fits and starts of generosity. But when you have resolved to be great, abide by yourself, and do not weakly try to reconcile yourself with the world. The heroic cannot be the common, nor the common the heroic.”

“Suit the action to the word, the word to the action.”