To be a great man it is necessary to know how to profit by the whole of our good fortune.

We are never so ridiculous through what we are as through what we pretend to be.

There is merit without rank, but there is no rank without some merit.

To establish yourself in the world a person must do all they can to appear already established.

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.

Funeral pomp is more for the vanity of the living than for the honor of the dead.

Absence cools moderate passions, and inflames violent ones; just as the wind blows out candles, but kindles fires.