Difficulty is a coin the learned make use of like jugglers, to conceal the inanity of their art.

Men throw themselves on foreign assistances to spare their own, which, after all, are the only certain and sufficient ones.

What kind of truth is it which has these mountains as its boundary and is a lie beyond them?

A man should not so much respect what he eats, as with whom he eats.

Ambition is, of all other, the most contrary humor to solitude; and glory and repose are so inconsistent that they cannot possibly inhabit one and the same place; and for so much as I understand, those have only their arms and legs disengaged from the crowd, their mind and intention remain engaged behind more than ever.

We easily enough confess in others an advantage of courage, strength, experience, activity, and beauty; but an advantage in judgment we yield to none.

'Tis the sharpness of our mind that gives the edge to our pains and pleasures.