Many people despise wealth, but few know how to give it away.

It is often merely for an excuse that we say things are impossible.

Our merit gains us the esteem of the virtuous-our star that of the public.

A man, in order to establish himself in the world, does everything he can to appear established there.

However much we may distrust men's sincerity, we always believe they speak to us more sincerely than to others.

In all professions each affects a look and an exterior to appear what he wishes the world to believe that he is. Thus we may say that the whole world is made up of appearances.

There is a form of eminence which does not depend on fate; it is an air which sets us apart and seems to prtend great things; it is the value which we unconsciously attach to ourselves; it is the quality which wins us deference of others; more than birth, position, or ability, it gives us ascendance.