The advantage of living is not measured by length, but by use; some men have lived long, and lived little; attend to it while you are in it. It lies in your will, not in the number of years, for you to have lived enough.

An ancient father says that a dog we know is better company than a man whose language we do not understand.

We do not marry for ourselves, whatever we say; we marry just as much or more for our posterity, for our family. The practice and benefit of marriage concerns our race very far beyond us.

Hath God obliged himself not to exceed the bounds of our knowledge?

A man must learn to endure patiently what he cannot avoid conveniently.

I must accommodate my history to the hour: I may presently change, not only by fortune, but also by intention.

It is not my deeds that I write down, it is myself, my essence.