To speak less of oneself than what one really is, is folly, not modesty; and to take that for current pay which is under a man's value, is pusillanimity and cowardice.

For table-talk, I prefer the pleasant and witty before the learned and the grave; in bed, beauty before goodness.

Wit is a dangerous weapon, even to the possessor, if he knows not how to use it discreetly.

No man is exempt from saying silly things; the mischief is to say them deliberately.

A wise man sees as much as he ought, not as much as he can.

Most men are rich in borrowed sufficiency: a man may very well say a good thing, give a good answer, cite a good sentence, without at all seeing the force of either the one or the other.

No noble thing can be done without risks.