The favorites of fortune or of fame topple from their pedestals before our eyes without diverting us from ambition. - Luc de Clapiers, marquis de Vauvenargues

It is unjust to exact that men shall do out of deference to our advice what they have no desire to do for themselves.

Are we surprised if a sick man cannot walk, or keep awake, or stand upright? Would it not be more surprising if he was the same man as when he was well? If we have a headache, or have slept badly, we are excused for telling incapable of work, and yet no one suspects us of always being lazy. Shall we deny a dying man the privilege we grant a man with a headache? And dare we assert that the man who lacks courage in his last agony never possessed virtue when he was well.

He who knows how to suffer everything can dare everything.