46 quotes
True friendship is like sound health; the value of it is seldom known until it be lost.
Lacon (1820)
Marriage is a feast where the grace is sometimes better than the dinner.
Lacon (1820)
Imitation is the sincerest of flattery.
Lacon (1820)
Pedantry crams our heads with learned lumber, and takes out our brains to make room for it.
Lacon (1820)
Discretion has been termed the better part of valour, and it is more certain, that diffidence is the better part of knowledge.
Lacon (1820)
Many books require no thought from those who read them, and for a very simple reason; they made no such demand upon those who wrote them.
Lacon (1820)
Instead of exhibiting talent in the hope that the world would forgive their eccentricities, they have exhibited only their eccentricities, in the hope that the world would give them credit for talent.
Lacon (1820)
Of all the passions, jealousy is that which exacts the hardest service and pays the bitterest wages. Its service is to watch the success of our enemies; its wages to be sure of it.
Lacon (1825)
If you cannot inspire a woman with love of you, fill her above the brim with love of herself;— all that runs over will be yours.
Lacon (1820)
We should have a glorious conflagration, if all who cannot put fire into their works would only consent to put their works into the fire.
Lacon (1820)
Liberty will not descend to a people, a people must raise themselves to liberty; it is a blessing that must be earned before it can be enjoyed.
Lacon (1820)
Suicide sometimes proceeds from cowardice but not always; for cowardice sometimes prevents it; since as many live because they are afraid to die, as die because they are afraid to live.
Lacon (1820)
None are so fond of secrets as those who do not mean to keep them; such persons covet secrets as a spendthrift covets money, for the purpose of circulation.
Lacon (1820)
To know the pains of power, we must go to those who have it; to know its pleasures, we must go to those who are seeking it; the pains of power are real, its pleasures imaginary.
Lacon (1820)
There are two principles of established acceptance in morals; first, that self-interest is the mainspring of all of our actions, and secondly, that utility is the test of their value.
Lacon (1820)
Drunkenness is the vice of a good constitution or of a bad memory—of a constitution so treacherously good that it never bends till it breaks; or of a memory that recollects the pleasures of getting intoxicated, but forgets the pains of getting sober.
Lacon (1820)
With books, as with companions, it is of more consequence to know which to avoid, than which to choose; for good books are as scarce as good companions.
Lacon (1820)
That author, however, who has thought more than he has read, read more than he has written, and written more than he published, if he does not command success, has at least deserved it.
Lacon (1820)
Times of general calamity and confusion, have ever been productive of the greatest minds. The purest ore is produced from the hottest furnace, and the brightest thunderbolt is elicited from the darkest storm.
Lacon (1820)
Style is indeed the valet of genius, and an able one too; but as the true gentleman will appear, even in rags, so true genius will shine, even through the coarsest style.
Lacon (1820)