Do not expect to be acknowledged for what you are, much less for what you would be; since no one can well measure a great man but upon the bier.

Great men lose somewhat of their greatness by being near us; ordinary men gain much.

No good writer was ever long neglected; no great man overlooked by men equally great. Impatience is a proof of inferior strength, and a destroyer of what little there may be.

Justice is often pale and melancholy; but Gratitude, her daughter, is constantly in the flow of spirits and the bloom of loveliness.

Experience is our only teacher both in war and peace.

Prose on certain occasions can bear a great deal of poetry; on the other hand, poetry sinks and swoons under a moderate weight of prose.

Friendship may sometimes step a few paces in advance of truth.