Nothing is so great an adversary to those who make it their business to please as expectation.

Nature herself makes the wise man rich.

If a man aspires to the highest place, it is no dishonor to him to halt at the second, or even at the third.

Should this my firm persuasion of the soul's immortality prove to be a mere delusion, it is at least a pleasing delusion, and I will cherish it to my last breath.

I will go further, and assert that nature without culture can often do more to deserve praise than culture without nature.

It is not enough merely possess virtue, as if it were an art; it should be practiced.

As fire when thrown into water is cooled down and put out, so also a false accusation when brought against a man of the purest and holiest character, boils over and is at once dissipated, and vanishes.