It’s in the very trickery that it pleases me. But show me how the trick is done, and I have lost my interest therein.

A great step toward independence is a good-humoured stomach.

No man is born wise; but wisdom and virtue require a tutor; though we can easily learn to be vicious without a master.

Death either destroys or unhusks us. If it means liberation, better things await us when our burden s gone: if destruction, nothing at all awaits us; blessings and curses are abolished.

It is not the man who has little, but he who desires more, that is poor.

It is essential to make oneself used to putting up with a little. Even the wealthy and the well provided are continually met and frustrated by difficult times and situations. It is in no man's power to have whatever he wants; but he has it in his power not to wish for what he hasn't got, and cheerfully make the most of the things that do come his way.

It's a vice to trust all, and equally a vice to trust none.