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

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

To lose one's self in reverie, one must be either very happy, or very unhappy. Reverie is the child of extremes.

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

Obtuseness is sometimes a virtue.

If poverty makes man groan, he yawns in opulence. When fortune exempts us from labor, nature overwhelms us with time.

Extremes produce reaction. Beware that our boasted civilization does not lapse into barbarism.