Every sentence is the result of a long probation.

I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practice resignation, unless it was quite necessary.

As if there were safety in stupidity alone

The way by which you may get money almost without exception leads downward.

Men have a singular desire to be good without being good for anything, because, perchance, they think vaguely that so it will be good for them in the end.

Every man who has ever been earnest to preserve his higher or poetic faculties in the best condition, has been particularly inclined to abstain from animal food

A man may acquire a taste for wine or brandy, and so lose his love for water, but should we not pity him.