I want death to find me planting my cabbages, but careless of death, and still more of my unfinished garden.

Great authors, when they write about causes, adduce not only those they think are true but also those they do not believe in, provided they have some originality and beauty. They speak truly and usefully enough if they speak ingeniously.

Courtesy, like grace and beauty, that which begets liking and inclination to love one another at the first sight, and in the very beginning of our acquaintance and familiarity; and, consequently, that which first opens the door for us to better ourselves by the example of others, if there be anything in the society worth notice

I consider myself an average man, except in the fact that I consider myself an average man.

Friendship is a creature formed for a companionship not for a herd.

In my youth I studied for ostentation; later, a little to gain wisdom; now, for recreation; never for gain.

It is a sign of contraction of the mind when it is content, or of weariness. A spirited mind never stops within itself; it is always aspiring and going beyond its strength.