Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
He that studies books alone, will know how things ought to be; and he that studies men, will know how things are.
The most ridiculous of all animals is a proud priest; he cannot use his own tools without cutting his own fingers.
The avarice of the miser may be termed the grand sepulchral of all his other passions, as they successively decay.
When millions applaud you seriously ask yourself what harm you have done; and when they disapprove you, what good.
Of all the marvelous works of God, perhaps the one angels view with the most supreme astonishment, is a proud man.
If a book really wants the patronage of a great name, it is a bad book; and if it be a good book, it wants it not.
Flattery is often a traffic of mutual meanness, where although both parties intend deception, neither are deceived.
Logic and metaphysics make use of more tools than all the rest of the sciences put together, and do the least work.
We should have all our communications with men, as in the presence of God; and with God, as in the presence of men.
Butler compared the tongues of these eternal talkers to race-horses, which go the faster the less weight they carry.
A beautiful woman, if poor, should use double circumspection; for her beauty will tempt others, her poverty herself.
Much may be done in those little shreds and patches of time which every day produces, and which most men throw away.
All poets pretend to write for immortality, but the whole tribe have no objection to present pay and present praise.
My lowest days as a Christian have been more fulfilling and rewarding than all the days of glory in the White House.
By paying our other debts, we are equal with all mankind; but in refusing to pay a debt of revenge, we are superior.
Much too oft we make life gloomy-- When happy we might be, If we gathered more of sunshine, And not dark shadows see.
Contemporaries appreciate the person rather than their merit, posterity will regard the merit rather than the person.
Tomorrow! It is a period nowhere to be found in all the registers of time, unless, perchance, in the fool's calendar.
In life we shall find many men that are great, and some that are good, but very few men that are both great and good.
We injure mysteries, which are matters of faith by any attempt at explanation in order to make them matters of reason.
The man of pleasure, by a vain attempt to be more happy than any man can be, is often more miserable than most men are.
Wealth is a relative thing since those who have little and want less are richer than those who have much but want more.
It is not until we have passed through the furnace that we are made to know how much dross there is in our composition.
The firmest of friendships have been formed in mutual adversity, as iron is most strongly united by the fiercest flame.
The mob is a monster, with the hands of Briareus, but the head of Polyphemus,--strong to execute, but blind to perceive.
The poorest man would not part with health for money, but the richest would gladly part with all their money for health.
Revenge is a debt, in the paying of which the greatest knave is honest and sincere, and, so far as he is able, punctual.
Examinations are formidable even to the best prepared, for the greatest fool may ask more than the wisest man can answer.
The science of mathematics performs more than it promises, but the science of metaphysics promises more than it performs.
It is best, if possible, to deceive no one; for he that ... begins by deceiving others, will end ... by deceiving himself.
Some are cursed with the fullness of satiety; and how can they bear the ills of life when its very pleasures fatigue them?
Honor is the most capricious in her rewards. She feeds us with air, and often pulls down our house, to build our monument.
Knowledge is two-fold, and consists not only in an affirmation of what is true, but in the negation of that which is false.
Posthumous charities are the very essence of selfishness when bequeathed by those who, even alive, would part with nothing.
There is this of good in real evils; they deliver us, while they last, from the petty despotism of all that were imaginary.
Wealth after all is a relative thing since he that has little and wants less is richer than he that has much and wants more.
Kings and their subjects, masters and slaves, find a common level in two places - at the foot of the cross, and in the grave.
Men of great and shining qualities do not always succeed in life, but the fault lies more often in themselves than in others.
Fashions smile has given wit to dullness and grace to deformity, and has brought everything into vogue, by turns, but virtue.
Nothing more completely baffles one who is full of trick and duplicity, than straightforward and simple integrity in another.
Never join with your friend when he abuses his horse or his wife, unless the one is about to be sold, the other to be buried.
Most importantly: Don't adjust your results to build up the ego of the chief strategist. Especially if the strategist is you.
There are truths which some men despise because they have not examined, and which they will not examine because they despise.
A high degree of intellectual refinement in the female is the surest pledge society can have for the improvement of the male.
Antithesis may be the blossom of wit, but it will never arrive at maturity unless sound sense be the trunk and truth the root.
Some read to think, these are rare; some to write, these are common; and some read to talk, and these form the great majority.
Discretion has been termed the better part of valour, and it is more certain, that diffidence is the better part of knowledge.
That is true beauty which has not only a substance, but a spirit; a beauty that we must intimately know, justly to appreciate.
It may be observed of good writing, as of good blood, that it is much easier to say what it is composed of than to compose it.
True contentment depends not upon what we have; a tub was large enough for Diogenes, but a world was too little for Alexander.