Do not take too artificial a view of mankind but judge them from a natural standpoint, deeming them neither over good nor over bad.

The Greeks possessed a knowledge of human nature we seem hardly able to attain to without passing through the strengthening hibernation of a new barbarism.

One might call habit a moral friction: something that prevents the mind from gliding over things but connects it with them and makes it hard for it to free itself from them.

Erudition can produce foliage without bearing fruit.

There exists a species of transcendental ventriloquism by means of which men can be made to believe that something said on earth comes from Heaven.

Just as the performance of the vilest and most wicked deeds requires spirit and talent, so even the greatest demand a certain insensitivity which under other circumstances we would call stupidity.

If there were only turnips and potatoes in the world, someone would complain that plants grow the wrong way.

Many things about our bodies would not seem to us so filthy and obscene if we did not have the idea of nobility in our heads.

To read means to borrow; to create out of one s readings is paying off one's debts.

Once we know our weaknesses they cease to do us any harm.

He who understands the wise is wise already.

Is he all right?" Jane asked. "Oh, sure, probably losing a fight against a squirrel, " Angus said. "Or his shadow...

All religious expression is symbolism.

I like to mix and match vintage with designer. It's how I create my own style.

I was never a dangerous woman. I'm not the prissy blonde woman that could take your husband away.

A lady of fashion will sooner excuse a freedom flowing from admiration than a slight resulting from indifference.

But there are some situations of the human mind in which good sense has very little power.

Even with everything broken and decided inside her she couldn't quite allow herself to disappear for good.

Consensus is usually made possible by vague language and shallow commitments.

A couple of weeks is a long time in American politics.

Alternating periods of activity and rest is necessary to survive, let alone thrive. Capacity, interest, and mental endurance all wax and wane. Plan accordingly.