However different men's fortunes may be, there is always something or other that balances the ill and the good, and makes all even at last.

More things are left undone through neglect of duty than through neglect of self-interest.

The disabusing a man strongly possessed with an opinion of his own worth is the very same ill office that was done to the fool at Athens, who fancied all the ships that came into the harbor were his own.

The highest skill is the true judgment of values.

Nature seems to have treasured up the depth of our mind talents and abilities that we are not aware of; it is the privilege of the passions alone to bring them to light, and to direct us sometimes to surer and more excellent aims than conscious effort could.

What men have given the name of friendship to is nothing but an alliance, a reciprocal accommodation of interest, an exchange of good offices; in it is nothing but a system of traffic, in which self-love always proposes to itself some advantage.

However different men's fortunes may be, there is always something or other that balances the ill and the good, and makes all even at last.