The slave has but one master, the ambitious man has as many as there are persons whose aid may contribute to the advancement of his fortunes.

A man of moderate Understanding, thinks he writes divinely: A man of good Understanding, thinks he writes reasonably.

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.

To forget someone means to think of him.

Children enjoy the present because they have neither a past nor a future.

False greatness is unsociable and remote: conscious of its own frailty, it hides, or at least averts its face, and reveals itself only enough to create an illusion and not be recognized as the meanness that it really is. True greatness is free, kind, familiar and popular; it lets itself be touched and handled, it loses nothing by being seen at close quarters; the better one knows it, the more one admires it.

A man can keep another's secret better than his own. A woman her own better than others.