The pleasure a man of honor enjoys in the consciousness of having performed his duty is a reward he pays himself for all his pains.

There are certain things in which mediocrity is not to be endured, such as poetry, music, painting, public speaking.

A man is thirty years old before he has any settled thoughts of his fortune; it is not completed before fifty. He falls to building in his old age, and dies by the time his house is in a condition to be painted and glazed.

We all covet wealth, but not its perils.

A position of eminence makes a great person greater and a small person less.

The most amiable people are those who least wound the self-love of others.

Caprice in women often infringes upon the rules of decency.