A wise man is cured of ambition by ambition itself; his aim is so exalted that riches, office, fortune and favour cannot satisfy him.

Every period of life is obliged to borrow its happiness from time to come.

I deny the lawfulness of telling a lie to a sick man for fear of alarming him; you have no business with consequences, you are to tell the truth.

He who waits to do a great deal of good at once will never do anything.

The use of travelling is to regulate imagination by reality, and instead of thinking how things may be, to see them as they are.

It is in refinement and elegance that the civilized man differs from the savage.

No government power can be abused long. Mankind will not bear it.