Attain And Maintain A Reputation, For It

Even Knowledge Has To Be In The Fashion, And Where It Is Not, It Is Wise To Affect Ignorance.

A Prudent Man Will Think More Important What Fate Has Conceded To Him, Than What It Has Denied.

Nature Scarcely Ever Gives Us The Very Best; For That We Must Have Recourse To Art.

Most Do Violence To Their Natural Aptitude, And Thus Attain Superiority In Nothing.

A Person Of Your Century: Great Persons Are Of Their Time. Not All Were Born Into A Period Worthy Of Them, And Many So Born Failed To Benefit By It. Some Merited A Better Century, For All That Is Good Does Not Always Triumph. Fashions Have Their Periods And Even The Greatest Virtues, Their Styles. But The Philosopher, Being Ageless, Has One Advantage: Should This Not Prove The Right Century, Many To Follow Will.