Fortune, like a coy mistress, loves to yield her favors, though she makes us wrest them from her.

Example has more followers than reason. We unconsciously imitate what pleases us, and approximate to the characters we most admire.

Tranquil pleasures last the longest; we are not fitted to bear the burden of great joys.

There are ceremonious bows that repel one like a cudgel.

Adhesion to one idea is monomania; to few, slavery.

There is a German proverb which says that Take-it-Easy and Live-Long are brothers.

Intellectually, as politically, the direction of all true progress is towards greater freedom, and along an endless succession of ideas.