Let every man, if possible, gather some good books under his roof.—Channing.
Wise books for half the truths they hold are honored tombs.—George Eliot.
Bores.—I am constitutionally susceptible of noises. A carpenter's hammer, in a warm summer's noon, will fret me into more than midsummer madness. But those unconnected, unset sounds are nothing to the measured malice of music.—Lamb.
These, wanting wit, affect gravity, and go by the name of solid men.—Dryden.
If we engage into a large acquaintance and various familiarities, we set open our gates to the invaders of most of our time; we expose our life to a quotidian ague of frigid impertinences which would make a wise man tremble to think of.—Cowley.
The symptoms of compassion and benevolence, in some people, are like those minute guns which warn you that you are in deadly peril!—Madame Swetchine.
Borrowing.—You should only attempt to borrow from those who have but few of this world's goods, as their chests are not of iron, and they are, besides, anxious to appear wealthier than they really are.—Heinrich Heine.
According to the security you offer to her, Fortune makes her loans easy or ruinous.—Bulwer-Lytton.
Bravery.—True bravery is shown by performing without witnesses what one might be capable of doing before all the world.—Rochefoucauld.
'Tis late before the brave despair.—Thompson.