Related:

• There is a kind of greatness which does not depend upon fortune
  it is a certain manner that distinguishes us, and which seems to destine us for great thing...
• it is certain that the real function of art is to increase our self-consciousne
  o make us more aware of what we are, and therefore of what the universe in which we live really is....
• It is more shameful to distrust one's friends than to be deceived by them. -- La Rochefoucauld
• The agreement of so many kinds of animals in a certain common structure
  which seems to be fundamental not only in their skeletons, but also in the arrangement of the other parts - so that a wonderfully simple typical form, by the shortening and lengthening of some parts, and by the suppression and development of others, might be able to produce an immense variety of species - allows a ray of hope, however faint, to enter our minds, that here perhaps some result may be obtained, by the application of the principle of the mechanism of nature (without which there can be no natural science in general)....
• La Rochefoucauld's Law It is more shameful to distrust one's friends than to be deceived by them.
• Confidence contributes more to conversation than wit. -- Francois de La Rochefoucauld
• One is constantly reminded of the infinite lavishness and fertility of Nature -- inexhaustible abundance amid what seems enormous waste.
  And yet when we look into any of her operations that lie within reach of our minds, we learn that no particle of her material is wasted or worn out....
• We would often be ashamed of our finest actions if the world understood all the motives which produced them.
  -- Francois Duc de la Rochefoucauld...
• There is scarcely an occurrence in nature which, happening at a certain time, is not looked upon by some persons as a prognosticator either of good or evil.
  The latter are in the greatest number, so much more ingenious are we in tormenting ourselves than in discovering reasons for enjoyment in the things that surround us....