If I am to serve as an instrument of deceit, at least let it be with a clear conscience. I do not want to be considered either so affectionate or so loyal a servant as to be found fit to betray anyone.

When we see a man with bad shoes, we say it is no wonder, if he is a shoemaker.

I do not know whether I would not like much better to have produced one perfectly formed child by intercourse with the muses than by intercourse with my wife.

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

Nature should have been pleased to have made this age miserable, without making it also ridiculous.

The shortest way to arrive at glory would be to do that for conscience which we do for glory.

Every abridgement of a good book is a fool abridged.