True eloquence consists in saying all that should be said, and that only.

It is a mistake to imagine, that the violent passions only, such as ambition and love, can triumph over the rest. Idleness, languid as it is, often masters them all; she influences all our designs and actions, and insensibly consumes and destroys both passions and virtues.

More men are guilty of treason through weakness than any studied design to betray.

However rare true love may be, it is less so than true friendship.

Fearlessness is a more than ordinary strength of mind, which raises the soul above the troubles, disorders, and emotions which theprospect of great dangers are used to produce. And by this inward strength it is that heroes preserve themselves in a calm and quiet state, and enjoy a presence of mind and the free use of their reason in the midst of those terrible accidents that amaze and confound other people.

The greatest part of intimate confidences proceed from a desire either to be pitied or admired.

The old begin to complain of the conduct of the young when they themselves are no longer able to set a bad example.