Gratitude is a lively sense of benefits to come.

The duration of our passions is no more dependent on ourselves than the duration of our lives.

The strongest symptom of wisdom in man is his being sensible of his own follies.

Great men should not have great faults.

None but great men are capable of having great flaws.

Love of glory, fear of shame, greed for fortune, the desire to make life agreeable and comfortable, and the wish to depreciate others - all of these are often the causes of the bravery that is spoken so highly of by men.

The good or the bad fortune of men depends not less upon their own dispositions than upon fortune.