Of all failures, to fail in a witticism is the worst, and the mishap is the more calamitous in a drawn-out and detailed one

The writing of the wise are the only riches our posterity cannot squander.

We cannot be contented because we are happy, and we cannot be happy because we are contented.

It has been my fortune to love in general those men most who have thought most differently from me, on subjects wherein others pardon no discordance. I think I have no more right to be angry with a man, whose reason has followed up a process different from what mine has, and is satisfied with the result, than with one who has gone to Venice while I am at Siena, and who writes to me that he likes the place.

When the mind loses its feeling for elegance, it grows corrupt and groveling, and seeks in the crowd what ought to be found at home.

Nations, like individuals, interest us in their growth.

When a cat flatters ... he is not insincere: you may safely take it for real kindness.