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

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.

Nothing is pleasanter to me than exploring in a library.

We cannot conquer fate and necessity, yet we can yield to them in such a manner as to be greater than if we could.

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

It is as wise to moderate our belief as our desires.

States, like men, have their growth, their manhood, their decrepitude, their decay.