Our greatest misfortunes come to us from ourselves.

An honest man nearly always thinks justly.

It is too difficult to think nobly when one thinks only of earning a living.

Or, rather, let us be more simple and less vain.

I undertake the same project as Montaigne, but with an aim contrary to his own: for he wrote his Essays only for others, and I write my reveries only for myself.

In all the ills that befall us, we are more concerned by the intention than the result. A tile that falls off a roof may injure us more seriously, but it will not wound us so deeply as a stone thrown deliberately by a malevolent hand. The blow may miss, but the intention always strikes home.

Temperance and labor are the two real physicians of man.