It Is Of No Use To Possess

The Maxim That Men Are Not To Be Praised Before Their Death Was Invented By Envy And Too Lightly Adopted By Philosophers. I, On The Contrary, Maintain That They Ought To Be Praised In Their Lifetime If They Merit It; But Jealousy And Calumny, Roused Against Their Virtue Or Their Talent, Labour To Degrade Them If Any One Ventures To Bear Testimony To Them. It Is Unjust Criticism That They Should Fear To Hazard, Not Sincere Praise.

It Is Difficult To Esteem A Man As Highly As He Would Wish.

There Does Not Exist A Man Sufficiently Intelligent Never To Be Tiresome.

It Is A Great Sign Of Mediocrity To Praise Always Moderately.

We Ought Never To Be Afraid To Repeat An Ancient Truth, When We Feel That We Can Make It More Striking By A Neater Turn, Or Bring It Alongside Of Another Truth, Which May Make It Clearer, And Thereby Accumulate Evidence. It Belongs To The Inventive Faculty To See Clearly The Relative State Of Things, And To Be Able To Place Them In Connection; But The Discoveries Of Ages Gone By Belong Less To Their First Authors Than To Those Who Make Them Practically Useful To The World.