All schools of philosophy, and almost all authors, are rather to be frequented for exercise than for weight.

We are no longer happy so soon as we wish to be happier.

We cannot at once catch the applauses of the vulgar and expect the approbation of the wise.

A great man knows the value of greatness; he dares not hazard it, he will not squander it.

Those who are quite satisfied sit still and do nothing; those who are not quite satisfied are the sole benefactors of the world.

Be assured that, although men of eminent genius have been guilty of all other vices, none worthy of more than a secondary name has ever been a gamester. Either an excess of avarice or a deficiency of what, in physics, is called excitability, is the cause of it; neither of which can exist in the same bosom with genius, with patriotism, or with virtue.

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