The first rule for speaking well is to think well.

We live with our defects as with the odors we carry about us: we do not perceive them, but they incommode those who approach us.

The most necessary disposition to relish pleasures is to know how to be without them.

Simplicity is oftenest an adroit pretence.

The love of esteem is the life and soul of society; it unites us to one another: I want your approbation, you stand in need of mine. By forsaking the converse of men, we forsake the virtues necessary for society; for when one is alone, one is apt to grow negligent; the world forces you to have a guard over yourself.

Politeness costs little and yields much.

The pleasures of the world are deceitful; they promise more than they give. They trouble us in seeking them, they do not satisfy us when possessing them, and they make us despair in losing them.