A well-read fool is the most pestilent of blockheads; his learning is a flail which he knows not how to handle, and with which he breaks his neighbor's shins as well as his own. Keep a fellow of this description at arm's length, as you value the integrity of your bones.

In all sorts of government man is made to believe himself free, and to be in chains.

It is hardly possible to suspect another without having in one's self the seeds of baseness the party is accused of.

There are few persons of greater worth than their reputation; but how many are there whose worth is far short of their reputation!

We rise to fortune by successive steps; we descend by only one.

Affectation discovers sooner what one is than it makes known what one would fain appear to be.

To believe with certainty, we must begin with doubting.