The Character Of False Wit

Men Sometimes Feel Injured By Praise Because It Assigns A Limit To Their Merit; Few People Are Modest Enough Not To Take Offense That One Appreciates Them.

Ignorance Is Not Lack Of Intelligence, Nor Knowledge A Proof Of Genius.

We Are So Presumptuous That We Think We Can Separate Our Personal Interest From That Of Humanity, And Slander Mankind Without Compromising Ourselves.

Magnanimity Will Not Consider The Prudence Of Its Motives.

As Soon As An Opinion Becomes Common It Is Sufficient Reason For Men To Abandon It And To Uphold The Opposite Opinion Until That In Its Turn Grows Old, And They Require To Distinguish Themselves By Other Things. Thus If They Attain Their Goal In Some Art Or Science, We Must Expect Them Soon To Cast It Aside To Acquire Some Fresh Fame, And This Is Partly The Reason Why The Most Splendid Ages Degenerate So Quickly, And, Scarcely Emerged From Barbarism, Plunge Into It Again.