Of all the affections which attend human life, the love of glory is the most ardent.

When you fall into a man's conversation, the first thing you should consider is, whether he has a greater inclination to hear you, or that you should hear him.

Age in a virtuous person, of either sex, carries in it an authority which makes it preferable to all the pleasures of youth.

The finest woman in nature should not detain me an hour from you; but you must sometimes suffer the rivalship of the wisest men.

The desire for glory clings even to the best men longer than any other passion.

Je voudrais, un jour, avoir un nom si connu, si populaire, si celebre, si glorieux enfin, qu'il m'authorisat, a p[eter] dans le monde, et que le monde trouvat …

No man is entirely free from weakness and imperfection in this life. Men of the most exalted genius and active minds are generally most perfect slaves to the l…