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.

Outward simplicity befits ordinary men, like a garment made to measure for them; but it serves as an adornment to those who have filled their lives with great deeds: they might be compared to some beauty carelessly dressed and thereby all the more attractive.

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

There are some who speak one moment before they think

One faithful Friend is enough for a man's self, 'tis much to meet with such an one, yet we can't have too many for the sake of others.

A guilty man is punished as an example for the mob; an innocent man convicted is the business of every honest citizen.

A wise man is not governed by others, nor does he try to govern them; he prefers that reason alone prevail.