That which is not, shall never be; that which is, shall never cease to be. To the wise, these truths are self-evident.

I am proud up to the point of equality; everything above or below that appears to me arrant impertinence or abject meanness.

From the height from which the great look down on the world all the rest of mankind seem equal.

Those who have had none of the cares of this life to harass and disturb them, have been obliged to have recourse to the hopes and fears of the next to vary the prospect before them.

The way to secure success is to be more anxious about obtaining than about deserving it.

True friendship is self-love at second hand; where, as in a flattering mirror we may see our virtues magnified and our errors softened, and where we may fancy our opinion of ourselves confirmed by an impartial and faithful witness.

This is the test and triumph of originality, not to show us what has never been, and what we may therefore very easily never have dreamt of, but to point out to us what is before our eyes and under our feet, though we have had no suspicion of its existence, for want of sufficient strength of intuition, of determined grasp of mind to seize and retain it.