"Women who are either indisputably beautiful, or indisputably ugly, are best flattered upon the score of their understandings; but those who are in a state of mediocrity are best flattered upon their beauty, or at least their graces; for every woman who is not absolutely ugly thinks herself handsome."

"Manners must adorn knowledge, and smooth its way through the world. Like a great rough diamond, it may do very well in a closet by way of curiosity, and also for its intrinsic value."

"The characteristic of a well-bred man is, to converse with his inferiors without insolence, and with his superiors with respect and with ease."

"I am sure that since I have had the full use of my reason, nobody has ever heard me laugh."

"In my mind, there is nothing so illiberal and so ill-bred, as audible laughter."

"Sacrifice to the Graces."

"Never seem wiser, nor more learned, than the people you are with. Wear your learning, like your watch, in a private pocket: and do not pull it out and strike it; merely to show that you have one."

"Speak of the moderns without contempt, and of the ancients without idolatry."

"Advice is seldom welcome; and those who want it the most always like it the least."

"I recommend you to take care of the minutes: for hours will take care of themselves."

"The young leading the young, is like the blind leading the blind; “they will both fall into the ditch.”"

"I knew once a very covetous, sordid fellow, who used to say, "Take care of the pence, for the pounds will take care of themselves.""

"Take the tone of the company you are in."

"Do as you would be done by, is the surest method of pleasing."

"The world is a country which nobody ever yet knew by description; one must travel through it one's self to be acquainted with it."

"Courts and camps are the only places to learn the world in."

"I really know nothing more criminal, more mean, and more ridiculous than lying. It is the production either of malice, cowardice, or vanity; and generally misses of its aim in every one of these views; for lies are always detected, sooner or later."

"There is time enough for everything, in the course of the day, if you do but one thing at once; but there is not time enough in the year, if you will do two things at a time."

"An injury is much sooner forgotten than an insult."

"The knowledge of the world is only to be acquired in the world, and not in a closet."

"Whatever is worth doing at all, is worth doing well."

"Be wiser than other people if you can; but do not tell them so."

"He adorned whatever subject he either spoke or wrote upon, by the most splendid eloquence."

"The nation looked upon him as a deserter, and he shrunk into insignificancy and an earldom."

"Marriage is the cure of love, and friendship the cure of marriage."

"Tyrawley and I have been dead these two years; but we don't choose to have it known."

"Religion is by no means a proper subject of conversation in a mixed company."

"I see that you are in fears again from your White Boys, and have destroyed a good many of them; but I believe, that if the military force had killed half as many landlords, it would have contributed more effectually to restore quiet. The poor people in Ireland are used worse than negroes by their Lords and Masters, and their Deputies of Deputies of Deputies. For there is a sentiment in every human breast that asserts man's natural right to liberty and good usage, and that will, and ought to rebel when oppressed and provoked to a certain degree."

"Then in chat, or at play, with a dance, or a song, Let the night, like the day, pass with pleasure along. All cares, but of love, banish far from your mind; And those you may end, when you please to be kind."

"Cheerful with wisdom, with innocence gay, And calm with your joys gently glide thro' the day. The dews of the evening most carefully shun — Those tears of the sky for the loss of the sun."

"At twelve you may walk, for at this time o' the year, The sun like your wit, is as mild, as 'tis clear: But mark in the meadows the ruin of Time; Take the hint, and let life be improv'd in its prime."

"Unlike my subject will I frame my song, It shall be witty, and it shan't be long."

"I assisted at the birth of that most significant word "flirtation," which dropped from the most beautiful mouth in the world."

"The chapter of knowledge is a very short, but the chapter of accidents is a very long one."

"I foresee, that before the end of this century, the trade of both King and Priest will not be half so good a one as it has been."

"The idle story of the Pretender's having been introduced in a warming-pan, into the Queen's bed, though as destitute of all probability as of all foundation, has been much more prejudicial to the cause of Jacobitism, than all that Mr. Locke and others have written, to show the unreasonableness and absurdity of the doctrines of indefeasible hereditary right, and unlimited passive obedience."

"Ohne Begeisterung, welche die Seele mit einer gesunden Wärme erfüllt, wird nie etwas Großes zustande gebracht."

"Wir sehen die klügsten, verständigsten Menschen im Leben Schritte tun, über die wir den Kopf schütteln müssen."

"Wer immer in Zerstreuungen lebt, wird fremd im eigenen Herzen."

"Vor einem grauen Haupte sollst du aufstehen!"

"Über viele Dinge urteilen Kinder, von Systemgeist, Leidenschaft und Gelehrsamkeit unverführt, weit richtiger als Erwachsene."

"Der Umgang mit Kindern hat für einen verständigen Menschen unendlich viel Interesse. Hier sieht er das Buch der Natur in unverfälschter Ausgabe aufgeschlagen."

"Sei nicht zu sehr ein Sklave der Meinungen andrer von dir! Sei selbständig! Was kümmert dich am Ende das Urteil der ganzen Welt, wenn du tust, was du sollst?"

"Lerne Widerspruch ertragen. Sei nicht kindisch eingenommen von deinen Meinungen."

"Lerne den Ton der Gesellschaft anzunehmen, in der du dich befindest."

"Keine Verbindungen pflegen dauerhafter zu sein als die, welche in der frühen Jugend geschlossen werden. Man ist da noch weniger misstrauisch, weniger schwierig in Kleinigkeiten."

"In deiner Kleidung verfalle nie in Nachlässigkeit, wenn du allein bist. Gehe nicht schmutzig, nicht krumm noch mit groben Manieren einher, wenn dich niemand beobachtet."

"Gar zu leicht missbrauchen oder vernachlässigen uns die Menschen, sobald wir mit ihnen vertraulich werden. Um angenehm zu leben, muss man fast immer ein Fremder unter den Leuten bleiben."

"Es gibt keine Notlügen; noch nie ist eine Unwahrheit gesprochen worden, die nicht früh oder spät nachteillige Folgen für jedermann gehabt hätte."

"Handle gut und anständig, weniger anderen zu gefallen, eher um deine eigene Achtung nicht zu verscherzen."