I am now experiencing one of the "ups" of political life. Congress adjourned on the first after a session of almost seventy-five d...ays, mainly taken up with a contest against me. Five vetoes, a number of special messages, and oral consultations with friends and opponents have been my part in it. At no time ... has the stream of commendation run so full. The great newspapers, and the little, have been equally profuse of flattery. Of course, it will not last. But I think I have the confidence of the country. When the [New York] Tribune can say, "The President has the courtesy of a Chesterfield and the firmness of a Jackson" (!), I must be prepared for the reactionary counterblast.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Books, gentlemen, are a species of men, and introduced to them you circulate in the "very best society" that this world can furnis...h, without the intolerable infliction of "dressing" to go into it. In your shabbiest coat and cosiest slippers you may socially chat even with the fastidious Earl of Chesterfield, and lounging under a tree enjoy the divinest intimacy with my late lord of Verulam.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
The world can doubtless never be well known by theory: practice is absolutely necessary; but surely it is of great use to a young ...man, before he sets out for that country, full of mazes, windings, and turnings, to have at least a general map of it, made by some experienced traveller.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Whoever is admitted or sought for, in company, upon any other account than that of his merit and manners, is never respected there..., but only made use of. We will have such-a-one, for he sings prettily; we will invite such-a-one to a ball, for he dances well; we will have such-a-one at supper, for he is always joking and laughing; we will ask another because he plays deep at all games, or because he can drink a great deal. These are all vilifying distinctions, mortifying preferences, and exclude all ideas of esteem and regard. Whoever is had (as it is called) in company for the sake of any one thing singly, is singly that thing, and will never be considered in any other light; consequently never respected, let his merits be what they will.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
A man of sense only trifles with them, plays with them, humours and flatters them, as he does with a sprightly and forward child; ...but he neither consults them about, nor trusts them with, serious matters.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
It is commonly said ... that ridicule is the best test of truth; for that it will not stick where it is not just. I deny it. A tru...th learned in a certain light, and attacked in certain words, by men of wit and humour, may, and often doth, become ridiculous, at least so far, that the truth is only remembered and repeated for the sake of the ridicule.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
If you can once engage people's pride, love, pity, ambition (or whatever is their prevailing passion) on your side, you need not f...ear what their reason can do against you.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Style is the dress of thoughts; and let them be ever so just, if your style is homely, coarse, and vulgar, they will appear to as ...much disadvantage, and be as ill received, as your person, though ever so well-proportioned, would if dressed in rags, dirt, and tatters.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »