I dislike clocks with second-hands; they cut up life into too small pieces.

The heart has no wrinkles.

There is no real evil in life, except great pain; all the rest is imaginary, and depends on the light in which we view things

. . . it seldom happens, I think, that a man has the civility to die when all the world wishes it.

... Providence conducts us with so much kindness through the different periods of our life, that we scarcely feel the change; our days glide gently and imperceptibly along, like the motion of the hour-hand, which we cannot discover. ... we advance gradually; we are the same to-day as yesterday, and to-morrow as to-day: thus we go on, without perceiving it, which is a miracle of the Providence I adore.

We must always live in hope; without that consolation there would be no living.

True friendship is never serene.