The superiority of some men is merely local. They are great because their associates are little.

Thought is always troublesome to him who lives without his own approbation.

The insolence of wealth will creep out.

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

Riches are of no value in themselves; their use is discovered only in that which they procure.

In a man's letters you know, Madam, his soul lies naked, his letters are only the mirror of his breast, whatever passes within him is shown undisguised in its natural process. Nothing is inverted, nothing distorted, you see systems in their elements, you discover actions in their motives.

Critics ought never to be consulted, but while errors may yet be rectified or insipidity suppressed. But when the book has once been dismissed into the world, and can be no more retouched, I know not whether a very different conduct should not be prescribed, and whether firmness and spirit may not sometimes be of use to overpower arrogance and repel brutality.