Great minds had rather deserve contemporaneous applause without obtaining it, than obtain without deserving it. If it follow them it is well, but they will not deviate to follow it.

Kings and their subjects, masters and slaves, find a common level in two places - at the foot of the cross, and in the grave.

Reply to wit with gravity, and to gravity with wit.

The intoxication of anger, like that of the grape, shows us to others, but hides us from ourselves.

Wealth is a relative thing since those who have little and want less are richer than those who have much but want more.

There are two principles of established acceptance in morals; first, that self-interest is the mainspring of all of our actions, and secondly, that utility is the test of their value.

As no roads are so rough as those that have just been mended, so no sinners are so intolerant as those that have just turned saints.