The difference between the vanity of a Frenchman and an Englishman seems to be this: the one thinks everything right that is French, the other thinks everything wrong that is not English.

It is better to be able neither to read nor write than to be able to do nothing else.

That which any one has been long learning unwillingly, he unlearns with proportionable eagerness and haste.

The last pleasure in life is the sense of discharging our duty.

We often forget our dreams so speedily: if we cannot catch them as they are passing out at the door, we never set eyes on them again.

We are not hypocrites in our sleep.

The wretched are in this respect fortunate, that they have the strongest yearnings after happiness; and to desire is in some sense to enjoy.

A strong passion for any object will ensure success, for the desire of the end will point out the means.

We dread life’s termination as the close, not of enjoyment, but of hope.

Our repugnance to death increases in proportion to our consciousness of having lived in vain.