We are valued in this world at the rate we desire to be valued.

High birth is a gift of fortune which should never challenge esteem towards those who receive it, since it costs them neither study nor labor.

The noblest deeds are well enough set forth in simple language; emphasis spoils them.

There is speaking well, speaking easily, speaking justly and speaking seasonably: It is offending against the last, to speak of entertainments before the indigent; of sound limbs and health before the infirm; of houses and lands before one who has not so much as a dwelling; in a word, to speak of your prosperity before the miserable; this conversation is cruel, and the comparison which naturally arises in them betwixt their condition and yours is excruciating.

There are some extraordinary fathers, who seem, during the whole course of their lives, to be giving their children reasons for being consoled at their death.

Men blush less for their crimes than for their weaknesses and vanity.

The wise person often shuns society for fear of being bored.