Great Throughts Treasury

"Who would venture upon the journey of life, if compelled to begin it at the end?"

"In manners, tranquillity is the supreme power."

"The true way to soften one's troubles is to solace those of others."

"There is an important difference between love and friendship. While the former delights in extremes and opposites, the latter demands equality. "

"All pleasures are commendable that do not culminate in regret."

"Behold the fine appointment he makes with me; that man never did love anyone but himself."

"Contempt is the only way to triumph over calumny."

"Delicacy is to affectation what grace is to beauty."

"Hope says to us constantly, ?Go on, go on,? and leads us thus to the grave."

"Evil report, like the Italian stiletto, is an assassin?s weapon, worthy only of the bravo."

"Philosophy may raise us above grandeur, but nothing can elevate us above the ennui which accompanies it."

"Save those who fill the highest stations, I know of none more unfortunate than those who envy them."

"Sin is not so sinful as hypocrisy."

"The height of power in women, so far as manners are concerned, rests in tranquility."

"It is not the absence, but the mastery, of our passions which affords happiness."

"In society mediocrity is not alone dangerous, it is fatal."

"One triumphs over calumny only by disdaining it."

"It is with many enterprises as with striking fire; we do not meet with success except by reiterated efforts, and often at the instant when we despaired of success."

"Nothing is more adroit than irreproachable conduct."

"The scars of the body?what are they, compared to the hidden ones of the heart?"

"Parley and surrender signify the same thing where virtue is concerned."

"You know that in everything women write there are always a thousand faults of grammar, but, with your permission, a harmony which is rare in the writings of men."