Give me the boy who rouses when he is praised, who profits when he is encouraged and who cries when he is defeated. Such a boy will be fired by ambition; he will be stung by reproach, and animated by preference; never shall I apprehend any bad consequences from idleness in such a boy.

A man who tries to surpass another may perhaps succeed in equaling inot actually surpassing him, but one who merely follows can never quite come up with him: a follower, necessarily, is always behind.

Everything that has a beginning comes to an end.

Vain hopes are like certain dreams of those who wake.

One thing, however, I must premise, that without the assistance of natural capacity, rules and precepts are of no efficacy.

He who speaks evil only differs from his who does evil in that he lacks opportunity.

It seldom happens that a premature shoot of genius ever arrives at maturity.