Covetousness is a sort of mental gluttony, not confined to money, but craving honor, and feeding on selfishness.

It is children only who enjoy the present; their elders either live on the memory of the past or the hope of the future.

Education must have two foundations --morality as a support for virtue, prudence as a defense for self against the vices of others. By letting the balance incline to the side of morality, you only make dupes or martyrs; by letting it incline to the other, you make calculating egoists.

If a woman were about to proceed to her execution, she would demand a little time to perfect her toilet.

Secrecy is best taught by starting with ourselves.

Eminence without merit earns deference without esteem.

Life is a malady in which sleep soothes us every sixteen hours; it is a palliation; death is the remedy.