Poverty treads close upon the heels of great and unexpected wealth.

The modest man has everything to gain, and the arrogant man everything to lose; for modesty has always to deal with generosity, and arrogance with envy.

The cunning tempter, by avoiding the grossness of vice, often silences objections.

Generally speaking, there is more wit than talent in the world. Society swarms with witty people who lack talent.

To be ungrateful is to be unnatural. The head may be thus guilty, not the heart.

The most civilized people are as near to barbarism as the most polished steel is to rust. Nations, like metals, have only a superficial brilliancy.

Familiarity is the root of the closest friendships, as well as the interests hatreds.