Where there is much pretension, much has been borrowed; nature never pretends.

The more honesty a man has, the less he affects the air of a saint.

The greatest of characters, no doubt, would be he, who, free of all trifling accidental helps, could see objects through one grand immutable medium, always at hand, and proof against illusion and time, reflecting every object in its true shape and colour through all the fluctuation of things.

Superstition always inspires littleness, religion grandeur of mind; the superstitious raises beings inferior to himself to deities.

All belief that does not make us more happy, more free, more loving, more active, more calm, is, I fear, a mistaken and superstitious belief.

It is a poor wit who lives by borrowing the words, decisions, mien, inventions and actions of others.

Trust him not with your secrets, who, when left alone in your room, turns over your papers.