It is easier to be mistaken about the true than the beautiful.

The ordinary true, or purely real, cannot be the object of the arts. Illusion on a ground of truth,--that is the secret of the fine arts.

We should make ourselves loved, for men are only just towards those whom they love.

Maxims are to the intellect what laws are to actions; they do not enlighten, but they guide and direct, and, although themselves blind, are protective.

Contempt for private wrongs was one of the features of ancient morals.

Old age takes from the man of intellect no qualities save those that are useless to wisdom.

One can with dignity be wife and widow but once.