A man convinced of his own merit will accept misfortune as an honor, for thus can he persuade others, as well as himself, that he is a worthy target for the arrows of fate.

Those whom the world has delighted to honor have oftener been influenced in their doings by ambition and vanity than by patriotism.

The only thing constant in life is change

We should scarcely desire things ardently if we were perfectly acquainted with what we desire.

It is a wearisome disease to preserve health by too strict a regimen.

The person giving the advice returns the confidence placed in him with a disinterested eagerness... and he is usually guided only by his own interest or reputation.

That which makes the vanity of others unbearable to us is that which wounds our own.