It is fortunate to be of high birth, but it is no less so to be of such character that people do not care to know whether you are or are not.
— Jean de la Bruyere
The slave has but one master, the ambitious man has as many as there are persons whose aid may contribute to the advancement of his fortunes.
No man is so perfect, so necessary to his friends, as to give them no cause to miss him less.
He who tip-toes cannot stand; he who strides cannot walk.
Children have neither a past nor a future. Thus they enjoy the present, which seldom happens to us.
Those who make the worst use of their time are the first to complain of its shortness.
When a book raises your spirit, and inspires you with noble and manly thoughts, seek for no other test of its excellence. It is good, and made by a good workman.
There is not in the world so toilsome a trade as the pursuit of fame; life concludes before you have so much as sketched your work.
A slave has but one master; an ambitious man has as many masters as there are people who may be useful in bettering his position.
A pious man is one who would be an atheist if the king were.
We must laugh before we are happy, for fear of dying without having laughed at all.
At the beginning and at the end of love, the two lovers are embarrassed to find themselves alone.
The great gift of conversation lies less in displaying it ourselves than in drawing it out of others. He who leaves your company pleased with himself and his own cleverness is perfectly well pleased with you.
It's motive alone which gives character to the actions of men.
There is no road too long to the man who advances deliberately and without undue haste; there are no honors too distant to the man who prepares himself for them with patience.
The very impossibility in which I find myself to prove that God is not, discovers to me his existence.
Man has but three events in his life: to be born, to live, and to die. He is not conscious of his birth, he suffers at his death and he forgets to live.
Even the best intentioned of great men need a few scoundrels around them; there are some things you cannot ask an honest man to do.
