Our last match never ignites except when we are sure it will not, and are prepared for the worst.

It is impossible to serve two masters, and few of us try. We are satisfied to praise God from whom all blessings flow while we cash the checks of Mammon.

Our own success is due to our indomitable energy and other deserving traits; that of others largely to blind luck. With our energy and the good luck of others what could we not achieve!

The trouble with most reformers that they waste their time and energy trying to reform somebody else.

We are convinced in our own minds that every man deserves what he gets; but, judging from ourselves, not every one gets what he deserves.

If we saw ourselves as others see us we should not believe our own eyes; but we should have a still lower opinion of the rest of the world than we now have.

When we care we usually don’t dare; when we dare we don’t often care.

What sounds so sweet as the human voice—to the one who is doing the talking!

Words may be mere wind, but then so is a tornado.

Laugh, and the world laughs with you; cry, and the world laughs at you.

A proverbial expression is often a crystallized lie which we should like to believe.

Because everything is for the best it does not follow that it is for our best.

It is easier to moralize than to be moral.

The difference between an actress on the stage and a woman not on the stage is a matter of here and there.

Ignorance is not so surprising, nor such a mark of inferiority, as unwillingness to learn.

He who grows indignant when his veracity is questioned generally has good and sufficient reason therefor.

Our joys are mainly those of prospect and retrospect.

It is not to be expected that the average man should know what a real woman is like—he so rarely sees one.

The Chinese promise and never intend to perform; we promise and do intend to perform.

The result is about the same.