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.

Languages are the keys of science.

A man unattached and without wife, if he have any genius at all, may raise himself above his original position, may mingle with the world of fashion, and hold himself on a level with the highest; this is less easy for him who is engaged; it seems as if marriage put the whole world in their proper rank.

Genius and great abilities are often wanting; sometimes, only opportunities. Some deserve praise for what they have done; others for what they would have done.

Two quite opposite qualities equally bias our minds - habits and novelty.

To be among people one loves, that's sufficient; to dream, to speak to them, to be silent among them, to think of indifferent things; but among them, everything is equal.

It is the glory and merit of some men to write well and of others not to write at all.