Whoever would do good in the world, ought not to deal in censure. We ought not to destroy, but rather construct.

People will allow their faults to be shown them; they will let themselves be punished for them; they will patiently endure many things because of them; they only become impatient when they have to lay them aside.

It is a maxim of wise government to treat people not as they should be but as they actually are.

Taste is only to be educated by contemplation, not of the tolerably good but of the truly excellent. I therefore show you only the best works; and when you are grounded in these, you will have a standard for the rest, which you will know how to value, without overrating them.

If you must tell me your opinions, tell me what you believe in. I have plenty of doubts of my own.

I think that I am better than the people who are trying to reform me.

Courage and modesty are the most unequivocal of virtues, for they are of a kind that hypocrisy cannot imitate; they too have this quality in common, that they are expressed by the same color.