We are all prompted by the same motives, all deceived by the same fallacies, all animated by hope, obstructed by danger, entangled by desire, and seduced by pleasure.

Modern writers are the moons of literature; they shine with reflected light, with light borrowed from the ancients.

In youth, it is common to measure right and wrong by the opinion of the world, and in age, to act without any measure but interest, and to lose shame without substituting virtue.

He who has provoked the shaft of wit, cannot complain that he smarts from it.

Even those to whom Providence has allotted greater strength of understanding can expect only to improve a single science.

One cause, which is not always observed, of the insufficiency of riches, is that they very seldom make their owner rich.

The feeling of friendship is like that of being comfortably filled with roast beef; love, like being enlivened with champagne.