As evening approached, I came down from the heights of the island, and I liked then to go and sit on the shingle in some secluded spot by the lake; there the noise of the waves and the movement of the water, taking hold of my senses and driving all other agitation from my soul, would plunge me into delicious reverie in which night often stole upon me unawares.

Fame is but the breath of people, and that often unwholesome.

Patience patience quotes is bitter, but its fruit is sweet.

Cities are the abyss of the human species.

Luxury either comes of riches or makes them necessary; it corrupts at once rich and poor, the rich by possession and the poor by covetousness.

Our greatest evil flows from ourselves.

Inopportune consolations increase a deep sorrow.