The essence of all jokes, of all comedy, seems to be an honest or well intended halfness; a non performance of that which is pretended to be performed, at the same time that one is giving loud pledges of performance. The balking of the intellect, is comedy and it announces itself in the pleasant spasms we call laughter.

True humor springs not more from the head than from the heart. It is not contempt; its essence is love. It issues not in laugther, but in still smiles, which lie far deeper.

If thou desire the love of God and man, be humble, for the proud heart, as it loves none but itself, is beloved of none but itself. Humility enforces where neither virtue, nor strength, nor reason can prevail.

It is no great thing to be humble when you are brought low; but to be humble when you are praised is a great and rare attainment.

Being reproached for giving to an unworthy person, Aristotle said, "I did not give it to the man, but to humanity."

Too many people confine their exercise to jumping to conclusions, running up bills, stretching the truth, bending over backward, lying down on the job, sidestepping responsibility and pushing their luck.

It is a pleasure to give advice, humiliating to need it, normal to ignore it.

It is almost impossible to smile on the outside without feeling better on the inside.

Any man whose errors take ten years to correct is quite a man.

Human nature is not of itself vicious.