They smell, they snarl and they scratch; they have a singular aptitude for shredding rugs, drapes and upholstery; they're sneaky, selfish and not at all smart; they are disloyal, condescending and totally useless in any rodent free environment.
Let no man value at a little price a virtuous woman's counsel; her winged spirit is feathered often times with heavenly words, and, like her beauty, ravishing and pure.
Genius creates, and taste preserves. Taste is the good sense of genius; without taste, genius is only sublime folly.
Moderation, which consists in an indifference about little things, and in a prudent and well-proportioned zeal about things of importance, can proceed from nothing but true knowledge, which has its foundation in self-acquaintance.
I am very sure that any man of common understanding may, by culture, care, attention, and labor, make himself what- ever he pleases, except a great poet.
Distrust all those who love you extremely upon a very slight acquaintance and without any visible reason.
Know the true value of time; snatch, seize, and enjoy every moment of it. No idleness, no laziness, no procrastination: never put off till to-morrow what you can do to-day.
Remember, as long as you live, that nothing but strict truth can carry you through the world, with either your conscience or your honor unwounded.
The human race, to which so many of my readers belong, has been playing at children's games from the beginning, and will probably do it till the end, which is a nuisance for the few people who grow up. And one of the games which it is most attached is called, "Keep tomorrow dark," and which is also named (by the rustics in Shropshire, I have no doubt) "Cheat the Prophet." The players listen very carefully and respectfully to all that the clever men have to say about what is to happen in the next generation. The players then wait until all the clever men are dead, and bury them nicely. Then they go and do something else. That is all. For a race of simple tastes, however, it is great fun.
...But nature does not say that cats are more valuable than mice; nature makes no remark on the subject. She does not even say that the cat is enviable or the mouse pitiable. We think the cat superior because we have (or most of us have) a particular philosophy to the effect that life is better than death. But if the mouse were a German pessimist mouse, he might not think that the cat had beaten him at all. He might think he had beaten the cat by getting to the grave first.
Brave men are all vertebrates; they have their softness on the surface and their toughness in the middle.
Courage is almost a contradiction in terms: it means a strong desire to live taking the form of readiness to die.
I do not believe in a fate that falls on men however they act; but I do believe in a fate that falls on them unless they act.
When you have really exhausted an experience you always reverence and love it.
A diamond cannot be polished without friction, nor the man perfected without trials.
Happiness is like a sunbeam, which the least shadow intercepts, while adversity is often as the rain of spring.
A bird does not sing because it has an answer...it sings because it has a song.
A wise man makes his own decisions, an ignorant man follows the public opinion.
He who could foresee affairs three days in advance would be rich for thousands of years