The last thing we decide in writing a book is what to put first..

That queen, of error, whom we call fancy and opinion, is the more deceitful because she does not always deceive. She would be the infallible rule of ….

A jester, a bad character..

The secrets of nature are concealed; her agency is perpetual, but we do not always discover its effects; time reveals them from age to age; and altho….

The more intelligence one has, the more people one finds original. Commonplace people see no difference between men..

The imagination enlarges little objects so as to fill our souls with a fantastic estimate; and, with rash insolence, it belittles the great to its ow….

In proportion as our own mind is enlarged we discover a greater number of men of originality. Commonplace people see no difference between one man a….

We are so presumptuous that we wish to be known to all the world, even to those who come after us; and we are so vain that the esteem of five or six ….

We are so presumptuous that we should like to be known all over the world, even by people who will only come when we are no more. Such is our vanity ….

Eloquence is the painting of thought..

Even those who write against fame wish for the fame of having written well, and those who read their works desire the fame of having read them..

Condition de l'homme: inconstance, ennui, inquie tude. Man's condition. Inconstancy, boredom, anxiety..

Habit is a second nature, which destroys the first..

Pride counterbalances all our miseries, for it either hides them, or, if it discloses them, boasts of that disclosure. Pride has such a thorough poss….

We make an idol of truth itself; for truth apart from charity is not God, but His image and idol, which we must neither love nor worship..

All the miseries of mankind come from one thing, not knowing how to remain alone..

Our reason is always disappointed by the inconstancy of appearances..

Eloquence is a painting of thought; and thus those who, after having painted it, add something more, make a picture instead of a portrait..

In difficult times carry something beautiful in your heart..

For as old age is that period of life most remote from infancy, who does not see that old age in this universal man ought not to be sought in the tim….

Knowing God without knowing our own wretchedness makes for pride. Knowing our own wretchedness without knowing God makes for despair. Knowing Jesus C….