Happy is the man who hath never known what it is to taste of fame - to have it is a purgatory, to want it is a hell.

Talk not of genius baffled. Genius is master of man. Genius does what it must, and Talent does what it can.

The mind profits by the wrecks of every passion.

Fate laughs at probabilities.

There is no such thing as luck. It's a fancy name for being always at our duty, and so sure to be ready when good time comes.

The faults of a brilliant writer are never dangerous on the long run; a thousand people read his work who would read no other; inquiry is directed to each of his doctrines; it is soon discovered what is sound and what is false; the sound become maxims, and the false beacons.

Vanity, indeed, is the very antidote to conceit; for while the former makes us all nerve to the opinion of others, the latter is perfectly satisfied with its opinion of itself.