There is no employment in the world so laborious as that of making to one's self a great name; life ends before one has scarcely made the first rough draught of his work.

There are but three events which concern man: birth, life and death. They are unconscious of their birth, they suffer when they die, and they neglect to live.

Men fall from great fortune because of the same shortcomings that led to their rise.

Avoid making yourself the subject of conversation.

Piety with some people, but especially with women, is either a passion, or an infirmity of age, or a fashion which must be followed.

A man unattached and without wife, if he have any genius at all, may raise himself above his original position, may mingle with the world of fashion, and hold himself on a level with the highest; this is less easy for him who is engaged; it seems as if marriage put the whole world in their proper rank.

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.