We may seem great in an employment below our worth, but we very often look little in one that is too big for us.

To understand matters rightly we should understand their details; and as that knowledge is almost infinite, our knowledge is always superficial and imperfect.

There are but very few men clever enough to know all the mischief they do.

Sometimes accidents happen in life from which we have need of a little madness to extricate ourselves successfully

There is a form of eminence which does not depend on fate; it is an air which sets us apart and seems to prtend great things; it is the value which we unconsciously attach to ourselves; it is the quality which wins us deference of others; more than birth, position, or ability, it gives us ascendance.

There is nothing men are so generous of as advice.

A man's worth has its season, like fruit.