Most people know no other way of judging men's worth but by the vogue they are in, or the fortunes they have met with.

Novelty is to love like bloom to fruit; it gives a luster which is easily effaced, but never returns.

Though nature be ever so generous, yet can she not make a hero alone. Fortune must contribute her part too; and till both concur, the work cannot be perfected.

No man deserves to be praised for his goodness, who has it not in his power to be wicked. Goodness without that power is generally nothing more than sloth, or an impotence of will.

Preserving health by too severe a rule is a worrisome malady.

We should often blush at our noblest deeds if the world were to see all their underlying motives.

A clever man should handle his interests so that each will fall in suitable order of their value.