Talent, like beauty, to be pardoned, must be obscure and unostentatious."

"Happiness is a rare plant, that seldom takes root on earth -- few ever enjoyed it, except for a brief period; the search after it is rarely rewarded by the discovery. But, there is an admirable substitute for it . . . a contented spirit."

"Modern historians are all would-be philosophers; who, instead of relating facts as they occurred, give us their version, or rather perversions of them, always colored by their political prejudices, or distorted to establish some theory . . ."

"The vices of the rich and great are mistaken for error; and those of the poor and lowly, for crimes."

Praise is the only gift for which people are really grateful.