If I don't write to empty my mind, I go mad.

It is not for minds like ours to give or to receive flatter; yet the praises of sincerity have ever been permitted to the voice of friendship

My great comfort is, that the temporary celebrity I have wrung from the world has been in the very teeth of all opinions and prejudices. I have flattered no ruling powers; I have never concealed a single thought that tempted me.

Know ye not who would be free themselves must strike the blow? by their right arms the conquest must be wrought?

They truly mourn, that mourn without a witness.

Be hypocritical, be cautious, be not what you seem but always what you see.

'Tis very certain the desire of life prolongs it.