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.

Everything that looks to the future elevates human nature; for never is life so low or so little as when occupied with the present.

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

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

Clear writers, like fountains, do not seem so deep as they are; the turbid look the most profound.

It appears to be among the laws of nature, that the mighty of intellect should be pursued and carped by the little, as the solitary flight of one great bird is followed by the twittering petulance of many smaller.

Goodness does not more certainly make men happy than happiness makes them good.