I do not much wish well to discoveries, for I am always afraid they will end in conquest and robbery.

Cucumber should be well sliced, dressed with pepper and vinegar, and then thrown out.

The true measure of a man is how he treats someone who can do him absolutely no good.

Curiosity is one of the most permanent and certain characteristics of a vigorous intellect.

Kindness is in our power, even when fondness is not.

When a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully.

Classical quotation is the parole of literary men all over the world.

A man who uses a great many words to express his meaning is like a bad marksman who, instead of aiming a single stone at an object, takes up a handful and throws at it in hopes he may hit.

There are minds so impatient of inferiority that their gratitude is a species of revenge, and they return benefits, not because recompense is a pleasure, but because obligation is a pain.

When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford.

He who has so little knowledge of human nature as to seek happiness by changing anything but his own disposition will waste his life in fruitless efforts.

We are condemned to be free people, liberated people who must make life-defining decisions. Freedom requires choices and all choices entail value decisions.

Be as a seed, a seed for change. Allow my gift to grow and rearrange. Multiple blessings for many. For those with none, let there be plenty. p64

The silent adjustments to understand colloquial language are enormously complicated.

I had as lief have the foppery of freedom as the morality of imprisonment.

Characteristics of a popular politician: a horrible voice, bad breeding, and a vulgar manner.

And make death proud to take us.

Our forefathers made one mistake. What they should have fought for was representation without taxation.

Nothing that has been thought can ever be taken back

Many admire, few know.

There was no doubt about it: if you wanted to succeed you had to go away. You could do nothing in Dublin.