It is more honorable to be raised to a throne than to be born to one. Fortune bestows the one, merit obtains the other.
I rejoiced in my progress, mourned my weaknesses, and commiserated the universal instability of human conduct.
All pleasure in the world is a passing dream.
Mere elegance of language can produce at best but an empty renown.
How difficult it is to save the bark of reputation from the rocks of ignorance.
I saw the tracks of angels in the earth: the beauty of heaven walking by itself on the world.