The defects and faults of the mind are like wounds in the body; after all imaginable care has been taken to heal them up, still there will be a scar left behind, and they are in continual danger of breaking the skin and bursting out again.

That man, we may be sure, is a person of true worth, whom those who envy him most are yet forced to praise.

Timidity is a fault for which it is dangerous to reprove persons whom we wish to correct of it.

It takes more strength of character to withstand good fortune than bad.

It is more often from pride than from ignorance that we are so obstinately opposed to current opinions; we find the first places taken, and we do not want to be the last.

The breeding we give young people is ordinarily but an additional self-love, by which we make them have a better opinion of themselves.

The vivacity that augments with years is not far from folly.