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

“Some virtues are only seen in affliction and others only in prosperity”

“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”

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

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

“Debate is masculine, conversation is feminine”