Those who are clever in imagination are far more pleased with themselves than prudent men could reasonably be.

The last thing we decide in writing a book is what to put first.

Reverend Fathers, my letters did not usually follow each other at such close intervals, nor were they so long.... This one would not be so long had I but the leisure to make it shorter.

We sometimes learn more from the sight of evil than from an example of good; and it is well to accustom ourselves to profit by the evil which is so common, while that which is good is so rare.

A mere trifle consoles us, for a mere trifle distresses us.

He who cannot believe is cursed, for he reveals by his unbelief that God has not chosen to give him grace.

There should be in eloquence that which is pleasing and that which is real; but that which is pleasing should itself be real.