The true character of epistolary style is playfulness and urbanity.

To be capable of respect is almost as rare as to be worthy of it.

The beautiful invariably possesses a visible and a hidden beauty; and it is certain that no style is so beautiful as that which presents to the attentive reader a half-hidden meaning.

A work is perfectly finished only when nothing can be added to it and nothing taken away.

Love and fear. Everything the father of a family says must inspire one or the other.

To see the world is to judge the judges.

If fortune wishes to make a man estimable, she gives him virtues; if she wishes to make him esteemed, she gives him success.