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

Let us not envy some men their accumulated riches; their burden would be too heavy for us; we could not sacrifice, as they do, health, quiet, honor and conscience, to obtain them: It is to pay so dear from them that the bargain is a loss.

The same vices which are huge and insupportable in others we do not feel in ourselves.

The nearer we come to great men the more clearly we see that they are only men. They rarely seem great to their valets.

If a handsome woman allows that another woman is beautiful, we may safely conclude she excels her.

I do not doubt but that genuine piety is the spring of peace of mind; it enables us to bear the sorrows of life, and lessens the pangs of death: the same cannot be said of hypocrisy.

There are certain things in which mediocrity is not to be endured, such as poetry, music, painting, public speaking.