Every man has within himself the entire human condition

Fortune does us neither good nor hurt; she only presents us the matter, and the seed, which our soul, more powerfully than she, turns and applies as she best pleases; being the sole cause and sovereign mistress of her own happy or unhappy condition.

And if nobody reads me, shall I have wasted my time, when I have beguiled so many idle hours with such pleasant and profitable reflections?

Thus we should beware of clinging to vulgar opinions, and judge things by reason's way, not by popular say.

How many condemnations I have witnessed more criminal than the crime!

I consider it equal injustice to set our heart against natural pleasures and to set our heart too much on them. We should neither pursue them, nor flee them; we should accept them.

A well-bred man is always sociable and complaisant.