Wrongs Are Often Forgiven, But Contempt Never

I Always Put These Pert Jackanapeses Out Of Countenance By Looking Extremely Grave When They Expect That I Should Laugh At Their Pleasantries; And By Saying Well, And So?--as If They Had Not Done, And That The Sting Were Still To Come. This Disconcerts Them, As They Have No Resources In Themselves, And Have But One Set Of Jokes To Live Upon.

The Receipt To Make A Speaker, And An Applauded One Too, Is Short And Easy. Take Common Sense Quantum Sufficit; Add A Little Application To The Rules And Orders Of The House [of Commons], Throw Obvious Thoughts In A New Light, And Make Up The Whole With A Large Quantity Of Purity, Correctness And Elegancy Of Style. Take It For Granted That By Far The Greatest Part Of Mankind Neither Analyze Nor Search To The Bottom; They Are Incapable Of Penetrating Deeper Than The Surface.

Not To Perceive The Little Weaknesses And The Idle But Innocent Affectations Of The Company May Be Allowable As A Sort Of Polite Duty. The Company Will Be Pleased With You If You Do, And Most Probably Will Not Be Reformed By You If You Do Not.

You Must Look Into People, As Well As At Them.

There Is Hardly Anybody Good For Everything, And There Is Scarcely Anybody Who Is Absolutely Good For Nothing.