There is no business in the world so troublesome as the pursuit of fame: life is over before you have hardly begun your work.
There are certain people who so ardently and passionately desire a thing that from dread of losing it they leave nothing undone to make them lose it.
Those who make the worst use of their time most complain of its brevity.
The nearer we come to great men the more clearly we see that they are only men. They rarely seem great to their valets.
Time makes friendship stronger, but love weaker.
Man has but three events in his life: to be born, to live, and to die. He is not conscious of his birth, he suffers at his death and he forgets to live.
We can recognize the dawn and the decline of love by the uneasiness we feel when alone together.
There are but two ways of rising in the world: either by one's own industry or profiting by the foolishness of others.
Logic is the technique by which we add conviction to truth.
Those who make the worst use of their time are the first to complain of its shortness.
Grief at the absence of a loved one is happiness compared to life with a person one hates.
We perceive when love begins and when it declines by our embarrassment when alone together.
A pious man is one who would be an atheist if the king were.
Life is a tragedy for those who feel and a comedy for those who think.