Vast objects of remote altitude must be looked at a long while before they are ascertained. Ages are the telescope tubes that must be lengthened out for Shakespeare; and generations of men serve but a single witness to his claims.

No ashes are lighter than those of incense, and few things burn out sooner.

The vain poet is of the opinion that nothing of his can be too much: he sends to you basketful after basketful of juiceless fruit, covered with scentless flowers.

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

The present, like a note in music, is nothing but as it appertains to what is past and what is to come.

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

Modesty and diffidence make a man unfit for public affairs; they also make him unfit for brothels.