He who excels in his art so as to carry it to the utmost height of perfection of which it is capable may be said in some measure to go beyond it: his transcendent productions admit of no appellations.

There is as much trickery required to grow rich by a stupid book as there is folly in buying it.

We all covet wealth, but not its perils.

The very impossibility which I find to prove that God is not, discovers to me his existence.

All the world says of a coxcomb that he is a coxcomb; but no one dares to say so to his face, and he dies without knowing it.

Every hour in itself, as it respects us in particular, is the only one we can call our own.

Even the best intentioned of great men need a few scoundrels around them; there are some things you cannot ask an honest ma to do.