Trust not him with your secrets, who, when left alone in your room, turns over your papers.
Let none turn over books, or roam the stars in quest of God, who sees him not in man.
The prudent sees only the difficulties, the bold only the advantages, of a great enterprise; the hero sees both, diminishes those, makes these preponderate, and conquers.
There are but three classes of men — the retrograde, the stationary, the progressive.
Good may be done by the bad — but the good alone can be good.
The jealous is possessed by a "fine mad devil" and a dull spirit at once.
Superstition always inspires littleness, religion grandeur of mind: the superstitious raises beings inferior to himself to deities.
Him, who incessantly laughs in the street, you may commonly hear grumbling in his closet.
He who, when called upon to speak a disagreeable truth, tells it boldly and has done, is both bolder and milder than he who nibbles in a low voice, and never ceases nibbling.
If you see one cold and vehement at the same time, set him down for a fanatic.