Simplicity is oftenest an adroit pretence.

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.

The first rule for speaking well is to think well.

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

Perfect friendship puts us under the necessity of being virtuous. As it can only be preserved among estimable persons, it forces us to resemble them. You find in friendship the surety of good counsel, the emulation of good example, sympathy in our griefs, succor in our distress.

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.

Politeness costs little and yields much.