The contemplation of truth and beauty is the proper object for which we were created, which calls forth the most intense desires of the soul, and of which it never tires.

Men are in numberless instances qualified for certain things, for no other reason than because they are qualified for nothing else.

The true barbarian is he who thinks everything barbarous but his own tastes and prejudices.

The art of life is to know how to enjoy a little and to endure very much.

One truth discovered, one pang of regret at not being able to express it, is better than all the fluency and flippancy in the world.

There cannot be a surer proof of low origin, or of an innate meanness of disposition, than to be always talking and thinking of being genteel.

Man is a make-believe animal: he is never so truly himself as when he is acting a part.