Wisdom is the mind what health is to the body.

The only good copies are those which make us see the absurdity of bad originals.

Before we set our hearts too much upon anything, let us examine how happy they are, who already possess it.

Happiness does not consist in things themselves but in the relish we have of them; and a man has attained it when he enjoys what he loves and desires himself, and not what other people think lovely and desirable.

The breeding we give young people is ordinarily but an additional self-love, by which we make them have a better opinion of themselves.

Pride has a greater share than goodness in the reproofs we give other people for their faults; and we chide them not so much to make them mend those faults as to make them believe that we ourselves are without fault.

If we have not peace within ourselves, it is in vain to seek it from outward sources.