The misery of man proceeds not from any single crush of overwhelming evil, but from small vexations continually repeated.

If we estimate dignity by immediate usefulness, agriculture is undoubtedly the first and noblest science.

The good of our present state is merely comparative, and the evil which every man feels will be sufficient to disturb and harass him if he does not know how much he escapes.

By writing, you learn to write.

To build is to be robbed.

Riches seldom make their owners rich.

Nothing is more common than for men to make partial and absurd distinctions between vices of equal enormity, and to observe some of the divine commands with great scrupulousness, while they violate others, equally important, without any concern, or the least apparent conciousness of guilt. Alas, it is only wisdom which perceives this tragedy.