“No man can certainly know, or ought to conclude, concerning himself or others, as long as they live, that the season of grace is quite over with them.”

“The wise man will live as long as he ought, not as long as he can.”
Sapiens vivit quantum debet, non quantum potest.

“One ought to examine himself for a very long time before thinking of condemning others.”

“He certainly over-heated himself at Venice by walking at a season when it is said that only Dogs and Englishmen are seen out of doors at noon, all else lie down in the middle of the day.”

“No one's reputation is quite what he himself perceives it ought to be.”

“I am now quite cured of seeking pleasure in society, be it country or town. A sensible man ought to find sufficient company in himself.”

“These are our few live seasons. Let us live them as purely as we can, in the present.”

“What concerns me alone I only think, what concerns my friends I tell them, what can be of interest to only a limited public I write, and what the world ought to know is printed…”

“From the Near Rim to the farthest of occupied systems, planets circled their suns, and men lived on them, and every man took himself seriously and did not quite believe that the universe had existed before he was born or would long survive his loss.”

“So many men are deprived of grace. How can one live without grace? One has to try it and do what Christianity never did: be concerned with the damned.”