Most frequently we wish not to know, but to talk . We would not take a sea voyage for the sole pleasure of seeing without hope of ever telling. Kind words do not cost much. Yet they accomplish much. Nothing is so intolerable to man as being fully at rest, without a passion, without business, without entertainment, without care.
Eloquence is a painting of the thoughts.
I have made this letter longer than usual, because I lack the time to make it short. One must know oneself. If this does not serve to discover truth, it at least serves as a rule of life and there is nothing better. I lay it down as a fact that if all men knew what others say of them, there would not be four friends in the world. It is the fight alone that pleases us, not the victory.