Piety softens all that courage bears.

Old age is not one of the beauties of creation, but it is one of its harmonies.

There are words which are worth as much as the best actions, for they contain the germ of them all.

Pride dries the tears of anger and vexation; humility, those of grief. The one is indignant that we should suffer; the other calms us by the reminder that we deserve nothing else.

In retirement, the passage of time seems accelerated. Nothing warns us of its flight. It is a wave which never murmurs, because there is no obstacle to its flow.

Years do not make sages; they only make old men.

It would seem that by our sorrows only are we called to a knowledge of the Infinite. Are we happy? The limits of life constrain us on all sides.