Писать прекрасно — значит одновременно прекрасно мыслить, прекрасно чувствовать и прекрасно выражать, то есть обладать в равной мере умом, душою и вкусом.
Пустыня есть безусловное уединение, в тысячу раз более страшное, чем уединение лесов, потому что деревья все-таки существа для человека.
Genius is nothing else than a great aptitude for patience.
Очевидно, что любовь сокращает дни нашей жизни, но правда и то, что взамен она их наполняет.
Гений есть не что иное, как дар огромного терпения.
Совершенное воздержание плоти может только обессилить природу.
Из всех вещей время менее всего принадлежит нам, и более всего нам не достаёт его.
Ничто так не заразительно, как заблуждение, поддерживаемое громким именем.
Человек один убивает, уничтожает живых существ больше, нежели пожирают их все плотоядные животные, вместе взятые.
Хорошо писать — это иметь ум, душу и вкус.
Never think that God's delays are God's denials. Hold on; hold fast; hold out. Patience is genius.
Одна из самых невосполнимых потерь — потеря времени.
Собака есть единственное животное, верность которого непоколебима.
Man alone consumes more flesh than all the other animals together devour; he is, then, the greatest destroyer; and this more from custom than necessity. Instead of using with moderation the blessings which are offered him, instead of disposing of them with equity, instead of increasing them in proportion as he destroys, the rich man places all his glory in consuming, in one day, at his table, as much as would be necessary to support many families: he equally abuses both animals and his fellow-creatures, some of whom remain starving and languishing in misery, and labour only to satisfy his immoderate appetite, and more insatiable vanity, and who, by destroying others through wantonness, destroys himself by excess. Nevertheless, man, like some other animals, might live on vegetables.
Истина, ставшая достоянием толпы, очень скоро искажается до неузнаваемости.
Стиль — это человек.
Крепко привязываются тогда, когда привязываются с трудом.
[F]rom the earliest periods of time [man] alone has divided the empire of the world between him and Nature. …[H]e rather enjoys than possesses, and it is by constant and perpetual activity and vigilance that he preserves his advantage, for if those are neglected every thing languishes, changes, and returns to the absolute dominion of Nature. She resumes her power, destroys the operations of man; envelopes with moss and dust his most pompous monuments, and in the progress of time entirely effaces them, leaving man to regret having lost by his negligence what his ancestors had acquired by their industry. Those periods in which man loses his empire, those ages in which every thing valuable perishes, commence with war and are completed by famine and depopulation. Although the strength of man depends solely upon the union of numbers, and his happiness is derived from peace, he is, nevertheless, so regardless of his own comforts as to take up arms and to fight, which are never-failing sources of ruin and misery. Incited by insatiable avarice, or blind ambition, which is still more insatiable, he becomes callous to the feelings of humanity; regardless of his own welfare, his whole thoughts turn upon the destruction of his own species, which he soon accomplishes. The days of blood and carnage over, and the intoxicating fumes of glory dispelled, he beholds, with a melancholy eye, the earth desolated, the arts buried, nations dispersed, an enfeebled people, the ruins of his own happiness, and the loss of his real power.
Истинное наше наслаждение состоит в свободном владении самими собой.
Не покидайте никогда дороги долга и чести — это единственное, в чем мы черпаем счастье.