It Is Difficult To Esteem A Man

It Is In Our Own Mind And Not In Exterior Objects That We Perceive Most Things; Fools Know Scarcely Anything Because They Are Empty, And Their Heart Is Narrow; But Great Souls Find In Themselves A Number Of Exterior Things; They Have No Need To Read Or Travel Or To Listen Or To Work To Discover The Highest Truths; They Have Only To Delve Into Themselves And Search, If We May Say So, Their Own Thoughts.

The Maxim That Men Are Not To Be Praised Before Their Death Was Invented By Envy And Too Lightly Adopted By Philosophers. I, On The Contrary, Maintain That They Ought To Be Praised In Their Lifetime If They Merit It; But Jealousy And Calumny, Roused Against Their Virtue Or Their Talent, Labour To Degrade Them If Any One Ventures To Bear Testimony To Them. It Is Unjust Criticism That They Should Fear To Hazard, Not Sincere Praise.

Glory Fills The World With Virtue, And, Like A Beneficent Sun, Covers The Whole Earth With Flowers And With Fruits.

We Are Dismayed When We Find That Even Disaster Cannot Cure Us Of Our Faults.

The Fruit Derived From Labor Is The Sweetest Of Pleasures.