Birds sing in vain to the ear, flowers bloom in vain to the eye, of mortified vanity and galled ambition. He who would know repose in retirement must carry into retirement his destiny, integral and serene, as the Caesars transported the statue of Fortune into the chamber they chose for their sleep.

Prudence, patience, labor, valor; these are the stars that rule the career of mortals.

The circle of life is cut up into segments. All lines are equal if they are drawn from the centre and touch the circumference.

Every great man exhibits the talent of organization or construction, whether it be in a poem, a philosophical system, a policy, or a strategy. And without method there is no organization nor construction.

I believe that there is much less difference between the author and his works than is currently supposed; it is usually in the physical appearance of the writer,--his manners, his mien, his exterior,--that he falls short of the ideal a reasonable man forms of him--rarely in his mind.

The Italians have voices like peacocks - German gives me a cold in the head - and Russian is nothing but sneezing

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.