The finest wits have their sediment.

I hate the prostitution of the name of friendship to signify modish and worldly alliances.

The most useful man in the most useful world, so long as only commodity was served, would remain unsatisfied. But, as fast as he sees beauty, life acquires a very high value.

The stars awaken a certain reverence, because though always present, they are inaccessible.

The sentence must also contain its own apology for being spoken.

Speak as you think, be what you are, pay your debts of all kinds. I prefer to be owned as sound and solvent, and my word as good as my bond, and to be what cannot be skipped, or dissipated, or undermined, to all the eclat in the universe. This reality is the foundation of friendship, religion, poetry, and art.

Honor and fortune exist for him who always recognizes the neighborhood of the great, always feels himself in the presence of high causes.