Now, of all the benefits that virtue confers upon us, the contempt of death is one of the greatest.

I cruelly hate cruelty, both by nature and reason, as the worst of all the vices. But then I am so soft in this that I cannot seea chicken's neck wrung without distress, and cannot bear to hear the squealing of a hare between the teeth of my hounds.

We find our energies are actually cramped when we are overanxious to succeed.

The premeditation of death is the premeditation of liberty; he who has learnt to die has forgot to serve.

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

The laws of conscience, which we pretend to be derived from nature, proceed from Custom.

Desire and hope will push us on toward the future.