To be an object of hatred and aversion to their contemporaries has been the usual fate of all those whose merit has raised them above the common level. The man who submits to the shafts of envy for the sake of noble objects pursues a judicious course for his own lasting fame. Hatred dies with its object, while merit soon breaks forth in full splendor, and his glory is handed down to posterity in never-dying strains.

The sufferings that fate inflicts on us should be borne with patience, what enemies inflict with manly courage.

Few things are brought to a successful issue by impetuous desire, but most by calm and prudent forethought.

Knowledge without understanding is useless.

It is men who make a city, not walls or ships.

For so remarkably perverse is the nature of man that he despises whoever courts him, and admires whoever will not bend before him.

I dread our own mistakes more than the enemy's intentions.