Ignorance is the softest pillow on which a man can rest his head.

We are all of us richer than we think we are; but we are taught to borrow and to beg, and brought up more to make use of what is another's than of our own.

It is not death, it is dying that alarms me.

When I was young, beautiful ancient statues were castrated, so that the eye might not be corrupted.... Nothing was gained, unless horses and asses had also been castrated.

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

Shame on all eloquence which leaves us with a taste for itself and not for its substance.

Friendship that possesses the whole soul, and there rules and sways with an absolute sovereignty, can admit of no rival.