Wisdom

Silence is foolish if we are wise, but wise if we are foolish.

Silence is the element in which great things fashion themselves together.

Tribulation is treasure in the nature of it, but it is not current money in the use of it.

Little minds are tamed and subdued by misfortune, but great minds rise above it.

The difficulty, my friends, is not in avoiding death, but in avoiding unrighteousness; for that runs faster than death.

Genius is hard work, stick-to-it-iveness, and common sense.

Great wits are sure to madness near allied.

Errors, like straws, upon the surface flow; He who would search for pearls must dive below.

Better shun the bait than struggle in the snare.

Would you have a great empire? Rule over yourself.

The fear of death is more to be feared, than death itself.

Many receive advice; few profit from it.

The thinker serves it by his intellect, and as a light upon its path.

He who floats with the current, who does not guide himself according to higher principles, who has no ideal, no convictions, such a man is a mere article of the world’s furniture.

The gentleman, then, is the man who is master of himself, who respects himself, and makes others respect him.

I would like to give you a little of my sleep that nothing, not even a cannon, can disturb.

I keep up talk with myself about politics, love, taste, or philosophy;

My thoughts,—these are the wantons for me.

I am he whom you may see any afternoon sitting by himself and musing in D'Argenson's seat.

The only thing worth a man's care is the will of God, and that will is the same whether in this world or in the next.