Nature imitates herself. A grain thrown into good ground brings forth fruit; a principle thrown into a good mind brings forth fruit. Everything is created and conducted by the same Master-the root, the branch, the fruits-the principles, the consequences.

[On vanity:] The nose of Cleopatra: if it had been shorter, the face of the earth would have changed.

The struggle alone pleases us, not the victory.

Seeing too much to deny and too little to be sure, I am in a state to be pitied.

When a man who accepts the Christian doctrine lives unworthily of it, it is much clearer to say he is a bad Christian than to say he is not a Christian.

Even those who write against fame wish for the fame of having written well, and those who read their works desire the fame of having read them.

Love knows no limit to its endurance, no end to its trust, no fading of its hope; it can outlast anything. Love still stands when all else has fallen.