A man of genius is privileged only as far as he is genius. His dullness is as insupportable as any other dullness.

All great masters are chiefly distinguished by the power of adding a second, a third, and perhaps a fourth step in a continuous line. Many a man has taken the first step. With every additional step you enhance immensely the value of your first.

The right eloquence needs no bell to call the people together, and no constable to keep them.

He that writes to himself writes to an eternal public.

Knowledge is when you learn something new every day. Wisdom is when you let something go every day.

You can take better care of your secret than another can.

We must have kings, we must have nobles; nature is always providing such in every society; only let us have the real instead of the titular. In every society some are born to rule, and some to advise. The chief is the chief all the world over, only not his cap and plume. It is only this dislike of the pretender which makes men sometimes unjust to the true and finished man.