No man is nobler born than another, unless he is born with better abilities and a more amiable disposition. They who make such a parade with their family pictures and pedigrees, are, properly speaking, rather to be called noted or notorious than noble persons. I thought it right to say this much, in order to repel the insolence of men who depend entirely upon chance and accidental circumstances for distinction, and not at all on public services and personal merit.

Success consecrates the most offensive crimes.

To be able to endure odium is the first art to be learned by those who aspire to power.

It's all in your headJ you have the power to make things seem hard or easy or even amusing. The choice is yours.

We live not according to reason, but according to fashion.

Death falls heavily on that man who, known too well to others, dies in ignorance of himself.

It is within the power of every man to live his life nobly, but of no man to live forever. Yet so many of us hope that life will go on forever, and so few aspire to live nobly.