Not the maker of plans and promises, but rather the one who offers faithful service in small matters. This is the person who is most likely to achieve what is good and lasting.

Legislators and revolutionaries who promise both equality and liberty are visionaries and charlatans.

There is nothing in the world more shameful than establishing one's self on lies and fables.

The dear good people don't know how long it takes to learn to read. I've been at it eighty years, and can't say yet that I've reached the goal.

To make an epoch in the world, two conditions are manifestly essential-a good head and a great inheritance.

To be loved for what one is, that is the greatest exception. The great majority love in others only what they lend him; their own selves, their version of him.

That we understand something perfectly, that we accomplish something better than anyone else around us, that is what matters.