Men sometimes feel injured by praise because it assigns a limit to their merit; few people are modest enough not to take offence that one appreciates them. The greatest evil which fortune can inflict on men is to endow them with small talents and great ambition. You are not born for fame if you don't know the value of time. The heaviest object in the world is the body of the woman you have ceased to love. There is nothing that fear and hope does not permit men to do. To possess taste, one must have some soul. We should expect the best and the worst of mankind, as from the weather. When a thought is too weak to be expressed simply, simply drop it. Wicked people are always surprised to find ability in those that are good. The counsels of old age give light without heat, like the sun in winter. | 
