Cursed luck! —said he, biting his lip as he shut the door, —for man to be master of one of the finest chains of reasoning in nature, —and have a wife at the same time...

I begin with writing the first sentence—and trusting to Almighty God for the second.

—Now my father had a way, a little like that of Job’s (in case there ever was such a man—if not, there’s an end of the matter.—Though, by the bye, because your learned men find...

I am this month one whole year older than I was this time twelve-month; and having got, as you perceive, almost into the middle of my fourth volume—and no farther than to my first day’s...

Now don’t let us give ourselves a parcel of airs, and pretend that the oaths we make free with in this land of liberty of ours are our own; and because we have the spirit...

Trust that man in nothing who has not a conscience in everything.

Great wits jump

What a large volume of adventures may be grasped within the span of his little life by him who interests his heart in everything.

It had ever, as I told the reader, been one of the singular blessings of my life, to be almost every hour of it miserably in love with some one….

If death, said my father, reasoning with himself, is nothing but the separation of the soul from the body;–and if it is true that people can walk about and do their business without brains,–then certes...

Respect for ourselves guides our morals; respect for others guides our manners

I have undertaken, you see, to write not only my life, but my opinions also; hoping and expecting that your knowledge of my character, and of what kind of a mortal I am, by the...

Human nature is the same in all professions.

Digressions, incontestably, are the sunshine, the life, the soul of reading! Take them out and one cold eternal winter would reign in every page. Restore them to the writer – he steps forth like a...

I could wish to spy the nakedness of their hearts, and through the different disguises of customs, climates, and religion, find out what is good in them, to fashion my own by. It is for...

—I won’t go about to argue the point with you,—’tis so,—and I am persuaded of it, madam, as much as can be, “That both man and woman bear pain or sorrow, (and, for aught I...

Keyholes are the occasions of more sin and wickedness, than all other holes in this world put together.

—for though he never after went to the house, yet he never met Bridget in the village, but he would either nod or wink, or smile, or look kindly at her,—or (as circumstances directed), he...

Crack, crack—crack, crack—crack, crack—so this is Paris! quoth I (continuing in the same mood)—and this is Paris!—humph!—Paris! cried I, repeating the name the third time— The first, the finest, the most brilliant— —The streets however...

We don’t love people so much for the good they have done us, as for the good we have done them

Writing, when properly managed, (as you may be sure I think mine is) is but a different name for conversation.

—all I can say of the matter, is—That he has either a pumkin for his head—or a pippin for his heart,—and whenever he is dissected ’twill be found so.