"... my boys, with only moderate incomes, when placed in the church, at the bar, or in the field, may exert their talents, make themselves friends, and raise their fortunes on the basis of merit."

"The very basis of true peace of mind is a benevolent wish to see all the world as happy as one's Self; and from my soul do I pity the selfish churl, who, remembering the little bickerings of anger, envy, and fifty other disagreeables to which frail mortality is subject, would wish to revenge the affront which pride whispers him he has received."

"... while discretion points out the impropriety of my conduct, inclination urges me on to ruin."

"Oh my dear girls, for to such only am I writing, listen not to the voice of love, unless sanctioned by paternal approbation; be assured it is now past the days of romance."

"Wealth and titles, which were sure to be heaped on the hero or heroine of the tale at last, she considered as the ultimatum of all sublunary good."

"Pleasure is a vain illusion; she draws you on to a thousand follies, errors, and I may say vices, and then leaves you to deplore your thoughtless credulity."

"... she had on a blue bonnet, and with a pair of lovely eyes of the same color, has contrived to make me feel devilish odd about the heart."

"Good voyages are made both ways. A certain amount of opposition is a great help to a man. Kites rise against, not with the wind. Even a head wind is better than nothing, No man ever worked his voyage any where, in a dead calm. The best wind for every thing, in the long run, is a side wind. If it blows right aft, how is he to get back? Let no man wax pale, therefore, because of opposition. Opposition is what he wants, and must have, to be good for any thing. Hardship is the native soil of manhood and self-reliance. He that cannot abide the storm, without flinching or quailing — strips himself in the sunshine, and lies down by the wayside, to be overlooked and forgotten. He who but braces himself to the struggle when the winds blow — gives up, when they have done, and falls asleep in the stillness that follows. Did you ever know any body stick to any kind of business, no matter how unpromising, ten years at most, who did not prosper? Not one! no matter how bad it might be at the beginning — if he stuck to it earnestly and faithfully, and tried no thing else — no matter how hard he may have found it sometimes to keep his head above water — still, if he persevered, he always came out bright in the end — didn't he?"

"The mind of youth eagerly catches at promised pleasure: pure and innocent by nature, it thinks not of the dangers lurking beneath those pleasures, till too late to avoid them."

"Of all the pleasures of which the human mind is sensible, there is none equal to that which warms and expands the bosom, when listening to commendations bestowed on us by a beloved object, and are conscious of having deserved them."

"... there was never a woman so ill-suited to public life as I am. I have had to whip myself, as it were, into society, and the loneliness of it all has been terrific."

"Reader. But where are the Unities? Author. In life there are no Unities, but three Incomprehensibles: Destiny, Man, and Woman."

"He longed to make a mark, or, to express it more vulgarly, cut a figure. Now, fortunately or unfortunately, the number of figures which can be cut in the world is practically unlimited; the only difficulty is to cut precisely the kind of figure one would wish."

"He did not speak again till just before he died, when he kissed his wife’s hand with singular tenderness and called her "Elizabeth." She had been christened Augusta Frederica; but then, as the doctors explained, dying men often make these mistakes."

""Ah," said that gentleman, ever ready to discuss one friend with another—in fact, it was chiefly for this pleasure that he made them..."

"Ideals, my dear Golightly, are the root of every evil. When a man forgets his ideals he may hope for happiness, but not till then."

"... political reputations are made by saying what you think, and they are kept by saying what you don't think!"

"... unimaginable moments lack Th' appropriate language we would give to them. For daily talk and excellent occasions There is a stock of sentiments all wound Like skeins of wool around our tongues. We hold them Deliciously tinged for every use."

"The wisest are those who can best adjust their disadvantages."

"Not all are blind that feel the scourge of love."

"Reason! A fool can give more reasons for his folly than a saint can urge for his wisdom. We have five senses, but only one conscience. That explains everything. The game is unequal."

"Ah, it is silliness to pass a wolf because one is hunting foxes."

"Marriage is like a good pie spoilt in the baking. Everything is admirable except the result! It is very heavy... very, very heavy!"

"Women may be whole oceans deeper than we are, but they are also a whole paradise better. She may have got us out of Eden, but as a compensation she makes the earth very pleasant."

": I'd rather be ruled by a liver than by love! : A liver lasts longer!"

"To die for one's great ideas is glorious—and easy. The horror is to outlive them. That is our worst capability."

"Dearest, every man—even the most cynical—has one enthusiasm—he is earnest about some one thing; the all-round trifler does not exist. If there is a skeleton—there is also an idol in the cupboard!"

"Those who have made unhappy marriages walk on stilts, while the happy ones are on a level with the crowd. No one sees 'em!"

"My dear, a man with a career can have no time to waste upon his wife or his friends—he has to devote himself wholly to his enemies!"

"Disillusions all come from within...from the failure of some dear and secret hope. The world makes no promises; we only dream it does; and when we wake, we cry!"

"If women thought less of their own souls and more about men's tempers, marriage wouldn't he what it is."

"Disappointments—like fate and love—will not bear to be too much talked about."

"... I had rather sleep and eat and dance Than hear a nightingale any day o' the week!"

"... entertainment for entertainment's sake is the most expensive form of death ..."

"What is beautiful is right: what is unbeautiful is wrong."

"A quart of doubt to an ounce of truth is the safest brew."

"It is our imagination, not our conscience, which makes us better than the beasts of the field."

"Faults! I adore faults! I can never find too many in any creature."

"What a man has done bores everybody, but what he is going to do is always delightful."

"A man's way of loving is so different from a woman's," sighed Anna. "There ain't nothing," said Mrs. Grimmage, "there ain't nothing that makes them so sulky and turns them against you so soon as saying anything like that."

"All is vanity,...discovering it—the greatest vanity."

"Talking to you...is only thinking to myself—made easier."

"Men heap together the mistakes of their lives and create a monster which they call Destiny."

"... he fell a too ready victim to circumstances: he helped to build the altar for his own sacrifice."

"... love comes to man through his senses—to woman through her imagination."

"If the gods have no sense of humour they must weep a great deal."

"There is no misery quite so wearing as the misery of a false position. It seems to slay the body and the soul."

"Men astonish themselves far more than they astonish their friends."

"All forced virtue is degrading in its effect."