The only competition worthy of a wise man is with himself.

All effort at originality must end either in the quaint or the monstrous. For no man knows himself as an original; he can only believe it on the report of others.

Make no man your idol, for the best man must have faults; and his faults will insensibly become yours, in addition to your own.

I cannot believe that any man who deserved fame ever labored for it; that is, directly. For, as fame is but the contingent of excellence, it would be like an attempt to project a shadow, before its substance was obtained.

An original mind is rarely understood, until it has been reflected from some half-dozen congenial with it, so averse are men to admitting the true in an unusual form; whilst any novelty, however fantastic, however false, is greedily swallowed.

Never expect justice from a vain man; if he has the negative magnanimity not to disparage you, it is the most you can expect.

No man knows himself as an original.