When I am in the country, I wish to vegetate like the country.

Poverty, when it is voluntary, is never despicable, but takes an heroical aspect.

People of genius do not excel in any profession because they work in it, they work in it because they excel.

Popularity disarms envy in well-disposed minds. Those are ever the most ready to do justice to others who feel that the world has done them justice. When success has not this effect in opening the mind, it is a sign that it has been ill deserved.

Learning is the knowledge of that which none but the learned know.

Our opinions are not our own, but in the power of sympathy. If a person tells us a palpable falsehood, we not only dare not contradict him, but we dare hardly disbelieve him to his face. A lie boldly uttered has the effect of truth for the instant.

Power is pleasure; and pleasure sweetens pain.