A man is thirty years old before he has any settled thoughts of his fortune; it is not completed before fifty. He falls to building in his old age, and dies by the time his house is in a condition to be painted and glazed.

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

The nearer we approach great men, the clearer we see that they are men.

If you suppress the exorbitant love of pleasure and money, idle curiosity, iniquitous pursuits and wanton mirth, what a stillness would there be in the greatest cities.

A man has made great progress in cunning when he does not seem too clever to others.

Life is a kind of sleep: old men sleep longest, nor begin to wake but when they are to die.

The passion of hatred is so long lived and so obstinate a malady that the surest sign of death in a sick person is their desire for reconciliation.