What is most important for democracy is not that great fortunes should not exist but that great fortunes should not remain in the same hands. In that way there are rich men but they do not form a class.
Moderation has been called a virtue to limit the ambition of great men and to console undistinguished people for their want of fortune and their lack of merit.
There is a kind of elevation which does not depend on fortune it is a certain air which distinguishes us and seems to destine us for great things it is a price which we imperceptibly set upon ourselves.
A great mind becomes a great fortune.
A great fortune is a great slavery.
All the ills of mankind all the tragic misfortunes that fill the history books all the political blunders all the failures of the great leaders have arisen merely from a lack of skill at dancing.
Ignorance of all things is an evil neither terrible nor excessive nor yet the greatest of all but great cleverness and much learning if they be accompanied by a bad training are a much greater misfortune.
Little minds are tamed and subdued by misfortune but great minds rise above them.
Behind every great fortune lies a great crime.
The government's War on Poverty has transformed poverty from a short-term misfortune into a career choice.