A great reserve and severity of manners are necessary for the command of those who are older than ourselves.

To a father who loves his children victor has no charms. When the heart speaks, glory itself is an illusion.

Nothing is lost as long as courage remains

Friendship is but a name. I love no one.

We must laugh at man to avoid crying for him.

Our credulity is a part of the imperfection of our natures. It is inherent in us to desire to generalize, when we ought, on the contrary, to guard ourselves very carefully from this tendency.

Men have their virtues and their vices, their heroisms and their perversities; men are neither wholly good nor wholly bad, but possess and practice all that there is of good and bad here below. Such is the general rule. Temperament, education, the accidents of life, are modifying factors. Outside of this, everything is ordered arrangement, everything is chance. Such has been my rule of expectation and it has usually brought me success.