Don't waste yourself in rejection, nor bark against the bad, but chant the beauty of the good.

A man known to us only as a celebrity in politics or in trade, gains largely in our esteem if we discover that he has some intellectual taste or skill.

At present, man applies to nature but half his force. He works on the world with his understanding alone. He lives in it, and masters it by a penny-wisdom; and he that works most in it, is but a half-man, and whilst his arms are strong and his digestion good, his mind is imbruted, and he is a selfish savage.

Fate is nothing but the deeds committed in a prior state of existence.

The moral sense is always supported by the permanent interest of the parties. Else, I know not how, in our world, any good would ever get done.

The lover of letters loves power too.

What we have learned from other becomes our own reflection.