Idleness and fear keeps us in the path of duty, but our virtue often gets the praise.

It is sometimes a point of as much cleverness to know to make good use of advice from others as to be able give good advice to oneself.

The mind cannot long play the heart's role.

Flattery is a base coin which is current only through our vanity.

When the philosophers despised riches, it was because they had a mind to vindicate their own merit, and take revenge upon the injustice of fortune by vilifying those enjoyments which she had not given them.

Idleness and constancy fix the mind to what it finds easy and agreeable. This habit always confines and cramps up our knowledge; and no one has ever taken the trouble to stretch and carry his understanding as far as it could go.

Silence is the safest course for any man to adopt who distrust himself.