When we are dead we are praised by those who survive us, though we frequently have no other merit than that of being no longer alive.

Every man is valued in this world as he shows by his conduct that he wishes to be valued.

Genius and great abilities are often wanting; sometimes, only opportunities. Some deserve praise for what they have done; others for what they would have done.

An assembly of the states, a court of justice, shows nothing so serious and grave as a table of gamesters playing very high; a melancholy solicitude clouds their looks; envy and rancor agitate their minds while the meeting lasts, without regard to friendship, alliances, birth or distinctions.

Discretion is the perfection of reason, and a guide to us in all the duties of life; cunning is a kind of instinct, that only looks out after our immediate interests and welfare. Discretion is only found in men of strong sense and good understanding; cunning is often to be met with in brutes themselves, and in persons who are but the fewest removes from them.

A man's worth is estimated in this world according to his conduct.

Making a book is a craft, like making a clock; it needs more than native wit to be an author.