Human life has not a surer friend, nor oftentimes a greater enemy, than hope. It is the miserable man's god, which in the hardest gripe of calamity never fails to yield to him beams of comfort. It is the presumptuous man's devil, which leads him a while in a smooth way, and then suddenly breaks his neck.

God has made no one absolute. The rich depend on the poor, as well as the poor on the rich. The world is but a magnificent building; all the stones are gradually cemented together. No one subsists by himself.

Every man should study conciseness in speaking; it is a sign of ignorance not to know that long speeches, though they may please the speaker, are the torture of the hearer.

God has made no one absolute.

It is a most unhappy state to be at a distance with God: man needs no greater infelicity than to be left to himself.

The irresolute man flecks from one egg to another, so hatches nothing.

Zeal without humanity is like a ship without a rudder, liable to be stranded at any moment