Stupidity and wisdom meet in the same centre of sentiment and resolution, in the suffering of human accidents.

If these Essays were worthy of being judged, it might fall out, in my opinion, that they would not find much favour, either with common and vulgar minds, or with uncommon and eminent ones: the former would not find enough in them, the latter would find too much; they might manage to live somewhere in the middle region.

If ordinary people complain that I speak too much of myself, I complain that they do not even think of themselves.

Taking it all in all, I find it is more trouble to watch after money than to get it.

I care not so much what I am to others as what I am to myself. I will be rich by myself, and not by borrowing.

While our pulse beats and we feel emotion, let us put off the business. Things will truly seem different to us when we have quieted and cooled down. It is passion that is in command at first, it is passion that speaks, it is not we ourselves.

No spiritual mind remains within itself; it is always aspiring and going beyond its own strength.