Men have solicitude about fame; and the greater share they have of it, the more afraid they are of losing it.

The uncertainty of death is, in effect, the great support of the whole system of life.

Be not too hasty to trust or to admire the teachers of morality; they discourse like angels, but they live like men.

Admiration must be continued by that novelty which first produces it; and how much soever is given, there must always be reason to imagine that more remains.

He who endeavors to please must appear pleased.

He who would govern his actions by the laws of virtue must regulate his thoughts by those of reason.

As any action or posture, long continued, will distort and disfigure the limbs, so the mind likewise is crippled and contracted by perpetual application to the same set of ideas.