Man is made to create, from the poet to the potter.

It is the lot of man to suffer.

It was not reason that besieged Troy; it was not reason that sent forth the Saracen from the desert to conquer the world; that inspired the crusades; that instituted the monastic orders; it was not reason that produced the Jesuits; above all, it was not reason that created the French Revolution. Man is only great when he acts from the passions; never irresistible but when he appeals to the imagination.

And it is a singular truth that, though a man may shake off national habits, accent, manner of thinking, style of dress,--though he may become perfectly identified with another nation, and speak its language well, perhaps better than his own,--yet never can he succeed in changing his handwriting to a foreign style.

Luck is what a capricious man believes in.

When a man fell into his anecdotage it was a sign for him to retire from the world.

One should conquer the world, not to enthrone a man, but an idea; for ideas exist forever.

Literature is an avenue to glory, ever open for those ingenious men who are deprived of honors or of wealth.

A practical man is a man who practices the errors of his forefathers.