Not because Socrates said so, but because it is in truth my own disposition — and perchance to some excess — I look upon all men as my compatriots, and embrace a Pole as a Frenchman, making less account of the national than of the universal and common bond.

The greatest thing in the world is to know how to belong to oneself.

The beautiful souls are they that are universal, open, and ready for all things.

The desire for riches is more sharpened by their use than by their need. Pleasing all: a mark that can never be aimed at or hit.

We may so seize on virtue, that if we embrace it with an overgreedy and violent desire, it may become vicious.

Whatever is preached to us, and whatever we learn, we should still remember that it is man that gives, and man that receives; it is a mortal hand that presents it to us, it is a mortal hand that accepts it.

Other passions have objects to flatter them, and seem to content and satisfy them for a while; there is power in ambition, pleasure in luxury, and pelf in covetousness; but envy can gain nothing but vexation.