Distinction is the consequence, never the object of a great mind.
Desert being the essential condition of praise, there can be no reality in the one without the other.
The only competition worthy of a wise man is with himself.
He who has no pleasure in looking up, is not fit so much as to look down.
Fame has no necessary conjunction with praise; it may exist without the breath of a word: it is a recognition of excellence which must be felt, but need not be spoken. Even the envious must feel it: feel it, and hate in silence.
Nothing gets you behind faster than trying to keep up with people who are already there.