Young people are dazzled by the brilliancy of antithesis, and employ it. Matter-of-fact men, and those who like precision, naturally fall into comparisons and metaphor. Sprightly natures, full of fire, and whom a boundless imagination carries beyond all rules, and even what is reasonable, cannot rest satisfied even with hyperbole. As for the sublime, it is only great geniuses and those of the very highest order that are able to rise to its height.

He who can wait for what he desires takes the course not to be exceedingly grieved if he fails of it; he, on the contrary, who labors after a thing too impatiently thinks the success when it comes is not a recompense equal to all the pains he has been at about it.

Favor exalts a man above his equals, but his dismissal from that favor places him below them.

There is what is called the highway to posts and honor, and there is a cross and by way, which is much the shortest.

The most delicate, the most sensible of all pleasures, consists in promoting the pleasure of others.

Grief at the absence of a loved one is happiness compared to life with a person one hates.

We perceive when love begins and when it declines by our embarrassment when alone together.