“Nothing is more amiable than true modesty, and nothing more contemptible than the false”

“I have been a selfish being all my life, in practice, though not in principle”

“Plenty of people wish to become devout, but no one wishes to be humble”

“Debate is masculine, conversation is feminine”

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

“A reader seldom peruses a book with pleasure until he knows whether the writer of it be a black man or a fair man, of a mild or choleric disposition, married or a bachelor”