Vice is a creature of such hideous mien... that the more you see it the better you like it.

Vice is a creature of such hideous mien... that the more you see it the better you like it.

Civilization rests on a set of promises; if the promises are broken too often, the civilization dies, no matter how read more

Civilization rests on a set of promises; if the promises are broken too often, the civilization dies, no matter how rich it may be, or how mechanically clever. Hope and faith depend on the promises; if hope and faith go, everything goes.

The soul's impurity consists in bad judgments, and purification consists in producing in it right judgments, and the pure soul read more

The soul's impurity consists in bad judgments, and purification consists in producing in it right judgments, and the pure soul is one which has right judgments.

Once conform, once do what others do because they do it, and a kind of lethargy steals over all the read more

Once conform, once do what others do because they do it, and a kind of lethargy steals over all the finer senses of the soul.

Thought is the labour of the intellect, reverie is its pleasure.

Thought is the labour of the intellect, reverie is its pleasure.

We give advice by the bucket, but take it by the grain.

We give advice by the bucket, but take it by the grain.

The entire world is my temple, and a very fine one too, if I'm not mistaken, and I'll never lack read more

The entire world is my temple, and a very fine one too, if I'm not mistaken, and I'll never lack priests to serve it as long as there are men.

Character is the sum and total of a person's choices.

Character is the sum and total of a person's choices.

I know that a man who shows me his wealth is like the beggar who shows me his poverty; they read more

I know that a man who shows me his wealth is like the beggar who shows me his poverty; they are both looking for alms from me, the rich man for the alms of my envy, the poor man for the alms of my guilt.