The surest way not to fail is to determine to succeed

The surest way to fail is not to determine to succeed.

For if there is anything to one's praise, it is foolish vanity to be gratified at it, and if it is abuse - why one is always sure to hear of it from one damned good-natured friend or another!

There is nothing on earth so easy as to forget, if a person chooses to set about it. I'm sure I have as much forgot your poor, dear uncle, as if he had never existed; and I thought it my duty to do so.

Pity those who nature abuses; never those who abuse nature.

The number of those who undergo the fatigue of judging for themselves is very small indeed