Honour forbid! at whose unrivall'd shrine 105 Ease, pleasure, virtue, all our sex resign. Methinks already I your tears survey, Already hear the horrid things they say, Already see you a degraded toast, And all your honour in a whisper lost! 110 How shall I, then, your helpless fame

A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both.

Familiarity destroys reverence.

It is a shame for anyone
to be well-known for righteousness.
It is a great disgrace to feel
distress at the injustice of
the turning of the wheels of fate.

Haste denies all acts their dignity.

It is indeed a mortifying reflection to those who are actuated by the love of fame, so justly denominated the last infirmity of noble minds, that the wisest legislator and most exalted genius that ever reformed or enlightened the world can never expect such tributes of praise as are lavished on the memory of pretended saints, whose whole conduct was probably to the last degree odious or contemptible, and whose industry was entirely directed to the pursuit of objects pernicious to mankind. It is only a conqueror, a personage no less entitled to our hatred, who can pretend to the attainment of equal renown and glory.

To esteem everyone is to esteem no one

Of the thousands who have paid homage to virtue, barely one has thought to inspect the pedestal on which it stands.

To be wealthy and honored in an unjust society is a disgrace.

Poor human nature! What would become of a person's dignity if it were entrusted to the followers of Rousseau?

Oh foul magnificence, sublime disgrace.

We ransomed our dignity to the clouds.

Those who occasion loss of dignity are hard to forgive.

Bastions of wealth
are no deference for the man
who treads the grand altar of Justice
down and out of sight.