The cynic is one who never sees a good quality in a man and never fails to see a bad one. He is the human owl, vigilant in darkness and blind to light, mousing for vermin, and never seeing noble game. The cynic puts all human actions into two classes - openly bad and secretly bad.
There are three schoolmasters for everybody that will employ them - the senses, intelligent companions, and books.
The difference between perseverance and obstinacy is: that one often comes from a strong will, and the other from a strong won't.
It is not the going out of port, but the coming in, that determines the success of a voyage.
A noble man compares and estimates himself by an idea which is higher than himself; and a mean man, by one lower than himself. The one produces aspiration; the other ambition, which is the way in which a vulgar man aspires.
You cannot sift out the poor from the community. The poor are indispensable to the rich.