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.

They that have lived a single day have lived an age.

To endeavor to forget anyone is a certain way of thinking of nothing else.

The most important things must be said simply, for they are spoiled by bombast; whereas trivial things must be described grandly, for they are supported only by aptness of expression, tone and manner.

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

Eminent station makes great men more great, and little ones less.

A man who is free and unmarried, if he has some intelligence, can rise above his fortune, mingle in society and meet the best people on an equal footing. This is harder for a married man: marriage, it seems, confines every man to his proper rank.