I speak the truth, not my fill of it, but as much as I dare speak; and I dare to do so a little more as I grow old.

Human understanding is marvellously enlightened by daily conversation with men, for we are, otherwise, compressed and heaped up in ourselves, and have our sight limited to the length of our own noses.

It is a sign of contraction of the mind when it is content, or of weariness. A spirited mind never stops within itself; it is always aspiring and going beyond its strength.

Every day I hear stupid people say things that are not stupid.

There are truths on this side of the Pyrenees which are falsehoods on the other

If love and ambition should be in equal balance, and come to jostle with equal force, I make no doubt but that the last would win the prize.

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