A vain man can never be altogether rude. Desirous as he is of pleasing, he fashions his manners after those of others.

Limitation of aims is the mother of wisdom and the secret of achievement.

For I have been a man, and that means to have been a fighter.

A flippant, frivolous man may ridicule others, may controvert them, scorn them; but he who has any respect for himself seems to have renounced the right of thinking meanly of others.

Nature does not suffer her veil to be taken from her, and what she does not choose to reveal to the spirit, thou wilt not wrest from her by levers and screws.

Several classical sayings that one likes to repeat had quite a different meaning from the ones later times attributed to them.

Lamps make oil-spots and candles need snuffing; it is only the light of heaven that shines pure and leaves no stain.