A minister of state is excusable for the harm he does when the helm of government has forced his hand in a storm; but in the calm he is guilty of all the good he does not do.

The discovery of what is true and the practice of that which is good are the two most important aims of philosophy.

The first step, my son, which one makes in the world, is the one on which depends the rest of our days.

All is but illusion and disaster.

The Deluge: A punishment inflicted on the human race by an all-knowing God, who, through not having foreseen the wickedness of men, repented of having made them, and drowned them once for all to make them better - an act which, as we all know, was accompanied by the greatest success.

Time, which alone makes the reputation of men, ends by making their defects respectable.

Luxury has been railed at for two thousand years, in verse and in prose, and it has always been loved.