No to laugh, not to lament, not to detest, but to understand.

Self-complacency is pleasure accompanied by the idea of oneself as cause.

If slavery, barbarism and desolation are to be called peace, men can have no worse misfortune.

Human infirmity in moderating and checking the emotions I name bondage : for, when a man is a prey to his emotions, he is not his own master, but lies at the mercy of fortune : so much so, that he is often compelled, while seeing that which is better for him, to follow that which is worse.

Everything great is just as difficult to realize as it is rare to find.

The eternal wisdom of God ... has shown itself forth in all things, but chiefly in the mind of man, and most of all in Jesus Christ.

Those who are believed to be most abject and humble are usually most ambitious and envious.