Our actions are like the terminations of verses, which we rhyme as we please.

We endeavor to make a virtue of the faults we are unwilling to correct.

The happiness and misery of men depend no less on temper than fortune.

In misfortune we often mistake dejection for constancy; we bear it without daring to look on it; like cowards, who suffer themselves to be murdered without resistance.

Organize one's values in the order of their worth

To establish ourselves in the world, we have to do all we can to appear established. To succeed in the world, we do everything we can to appear successful.

It is not enough that we should succeed, but our friends must fail as well.