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

Widows, like ripe fruit, drop easily from their perch.

I am told so many ill things of a man, and I see so few in him, that I begin to suspect he has a real but troublesome merit, as being likely to eclipse that of others.

Love and friendship exclude each other.

What is certain in death is somewhat softened by what is uncertain; it is an indefiniteness in the time, which holds a certain relation to the infinite, and what is called eternity.

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

Man makes up his mind he will preach, and he preaches.