However great the advantages given us by nature, it is not she alone, but fortune with her, which makes heroes.

Propriety is the least of all laws, and the most observed.

There is no disguise which can hide love for long where it exists, or simulate it where it does not.

If one judges love by the majority of its effects, it is more like hatred than like friendship.

They that apply themselves to trifling matters commonly become incapable of great ones.

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.

One should treat one's fate as one does one's health; enjoy it when it is good, be patient with it when it is poor, and never attempt any drastic cure save as an ultimate resort.