How prompt we are to satisfy the hunger and thirst of our bodies; how slow to satisfy the hunger and thirst of our souls!

Our taste is too delicate and particular. It says nay to the poet's work, but never yea to his hope.

We slander the hyena; man is the fiercest and cruelest animal.

A grain of gold will gild a great surface, but not so much as a grain of wisdom.

Nature, even when she is scant and thin outwardly, satisfies us still by the assurance of a certain generosity at the roots.

It takes a man of genius to travel in his own country, in his native village; to make any progress between his door and his gate.

Still we live meanly like ants, though the fable tells us we were long ago changed into men.