That past which is so presumptuously brought forward as a precedent for the present, was itself founded on some past that went before it.

Genius inspires this thirst for fame: there is no blessing undesired by those to whom Heaven gave the means of winning it.

I must keep on rowing, not until I reach port but until I reach my grave.

I do not want an echo of myself from my children. I do not want to hear from them merely the reverberation of my own voice.

Nature, who permits no two leaves to be exactly alike, has given a still greater diversity to human minds. Imitation, then, is a double murder; for it deprives both copy and original of their primitive existence.

Society develops wit, but its contemplation alone forms genius.

The thing that must be preserved in all situations whatever is the reputation of one's character.