High birth is an accident, not a virtue.

How full of error is the judgment of mankind! They wonder at results when they are ignorant of the reasons

If our inward griefs were written on our brows, how many who are envied now would be pitied. It would seem that they had their deadliest foe in their own breast, and their whole happiness would be reduced to mere seeming.

The canker which the trunk conceals is revealed by the leaves, the fruit, or the flower.

The eye that gazes upon the sun sees not the orb it looks upon, confounded by the excess of its brightness.

The pilot who is always dreading a rock or a tempest must not complain if he remain a poor fisherman. We must at times trust, something to fortune, for fortune has often some share in what happens.

It is by no means a fact that death is the worst of all evils; when it comes it is an alleviation to mortals who are worn out with sufferings.