“Mirth is like a flash of lightning, that breaks through a gloom of clouds, and glitters for a moment; cheerfulness keeps up a kind of daylight in the mind, and fills it with a steady and perpetual serenity”

“Jesting is often only indigence of intellect”

“It is a great misfortune not to possess sufficient wit to speak well, nor sufficient judgment to keep silent”

“One should never risk a joke, even of the mildest and most unexceptional charters, except among people of culture and wit”

“One must laugh before one is happy, or one may die without ever laughing at all”

“Good nature is more agreeable in conversation than wit, and gives a certain air to the countenance which is more amiable than beauty”