Mankind are so ready to bestow their admiration on the dead, because the latter do not hear it, or because it gives no pleasure to the objects of it. Even fame is the offspring of envy.

Hope is the best possession.

Life is a continued struggle to be what we are not, and to do what we cannot.

Just as much as we see in others we have in ourselves.

To give a reason for anything is to breed a doubt of it.

There is a heroism in crime as well as in virtue. Vice and infamy have their altars and their religion.

The temple of fame stands upon the grave: the flame that burns upon its altars is kindled from the ashes of great men.