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

“Our ideals are our better selves”

“Debate is masculine, conversation is feminine”

“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”

“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”