Obstinacy and dogmatism are the surest signs of stupidity. Is there anything more confident, resolute, disdainful, grave and serious than an ass?

To smell, though well, is to stink.

I have gathered a posy of other men’s flowers and only the thread that bonds them is my own.

Covetousness is both the beginning and the end of the devil's alphabet - the first vice in corrupt nature that moves, and the last which dies.

Virtue rejects facility to be her companion. She requires a craggy, rough and thorny way.

Excellent memories are often coupled with feeble judgments.

Books are a languid pleasure.