I have resolved on an enterprise that has no precedent and will have no imitator. I want to set before my fellow human beings a man in every way true to nature; and that man will be myself.

I am not made like any of those I have seen. I venture to believe that I am not made like any of those who are in existence. If I am not better, at least I am different.

Our greatest misfortunes come to us from ourselves.

I do not know is a phrase which becomes us.

Taste is, so to speak, the microscope of the judgment.

Nature never deceives us; it is we who deceive ourselves.

It is easier to conquer than to administer. With enough leverage, a finger could overturn the world; but to support the world, one must have the shoulders of Hercules.