I would rather be old for a shorter time than be old before my time.

If not for that of conscience, yet at least for ambition's sake, let us reject ambition, let us disdain that thirst of honor and renown, so low and mendicant; that it makes us beg it of all sorts of people.

The beginnings of all things are weak and tender. We must therefore be clear-sighted in the beginnings, for, as in their budding we discern not the danger, so in their full growth we perceive not the remedy.

To how many blockheads of my time has a cold and taciturn demeanor procured the credit of prudence and capacity!

Some men seem remarkable to the world in whom neither their wives nor their valets saw anything extraordinary. Few men have been admired by their servants.

The profit we possess after study is to have become better and wiser.

A straight oar looks bent in the water. It matters not merely that we see a thing, but how we see it.