If a man should importune me to give a reason why I loved him, I find it could no otherwise be expressed, than by making answer: because it was he, because it was I.

To learn that we have said or done a foolish thing, that is nothing; we must learn that we are nothing but fools, a far broader and more important lesson.

Most of our desires are born and nurtured at other people's expense.

We are all lumps, and of so various and inform a contexture, that every piece plays, every moment, its own game, and there is as much difference betwixt us and ourselves as betwixt us and others.

I...think it much more supportable to be always alone, than never to be so.

The great and glorious masterpiece of man is to live with purpose.

Nothing fixes a thing so intensely in the mind as the wish to forget it.