The true character of epistolary style is playfulness and urbanity.

Good maxims are the germs of all excellence.

Never be sad for what is over, just be glad it was once yours. Kindness is loving people more than they deserve.

The early and the latter part of human life are the best, or, at least, the most worthy of respect; the one as the age of innocence, the other of reason.

Mediocrity is excellence in the eyes of the mediocre.

History needs distance, perspective. Facts and events which are too well attested cease, in some sort, to be malleable.

Moderation consists in being moved as angels are moved.