There are certain people who so ardently and passionately desire a thing, that from dread of losing it they leave nothing undone to make them lose it.

There is not in the world so toilsome a trade as the pursuit of fame; life concludes before you have so much as sketched your work.

Incivility is not a Vice of the Soul, but the effect of several Vices; of Vanity, Ignorance of Duty, Laziness, Stupidity, Distraction, Contempt of others, and Jealousy.

We must confess that at present the rich predominate, but the future will be for the virtuous and ingenious.

It is virtue which should determine us in the choice of our friends, without inquiring into their good or evil fortune.

A simple garb is the proper costume of the vulgar; it is cut for them, and exactly suits their measure, but it is an ornament for those who have filled up their lives with great deeds. I liken them to beauty in dishabille, but more bewitching on that account.

Great things astonish us, and small dishearten us. Custom makes both familiar.