We can most safely achieve truly universal tolerance when we respect that which is characteristic in the individual and in nations, clinging, though, to the conviction that the truly meritorious is unique by belonging to all of mankind.

If you want someone to develop a specific trait, treat them as though they already had it.

America, you have it better than our continent, the old one.

The miller believes that all the wheat grows so that his mill keeps running.

I had rather be Mercury, the smallest among seven [planets], revolving round the sun, than the first among five [moons] revolving round Saturn.

The further one advances in experience, the closer one comes to the unfathomable; the more one learns to utilize experience, the more one recognizes that the unfathomable is of no practical value.

The best fortune that can fall to a man is that which corrects his defects and makes up for his failings.