Ambition sufficiently plagues her proselytes, by keeping themselves always in show, like the statue of a public place.

All we do is to look after the opinions and learning of others: we ought to make them our own.

Every one is well or ill at ease, according as he finds himself! not he whom the world believes, but he who believes himself to be so, is content; and in him alone belief gives itself being and reality

The laws of conscience, though we ascribe them to nature, actually come from custom.

The first distinction among men, and the first consideration that gave one precedence over another, was doubtless the advantage of beauty.

Things seem greater by imagination than they are in effect.

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