True happiness... arises, in the first place, from the enjoyment of one's self.
It is folly for an eminent person to think of escaping censure, and a weakness to be affected by it. All the illustrious persons of antiquity, and indeed of every age, have passed through this fiery persecution. There is no defense against reproach but obscurity; it is a kind of concomitant to greatness, as satires and invectives were an essential part of a Roman triumph.
How beautiful is death, when earn'd by virtue! Who would not be that youth? What pity is it That we can die but once to serve our country!
If men would consider not so much wherein they differ, as wherein they agree, there would be far less of uncharitableness and angry feeling.
What an absurd thing it is to pass over all the valuable parts of a man, and fix our attention on his infirmities.
Self discipline is that which, next to virtue, truly and essentially raises one man above another.
Arguments out of a pretty mouth are unanswerable.
Nothing that isn't a real crime makes a man appear so contemptible and little in the eyes of the world as inconsistency.
Sweet are the slumbers of the virtuous man.
Friendship improves happiness, and abates misery, by doubling our joys, and dividing our grief.