Integrity is the evidence of all civil virtues.
When we know to read our own hearts, we acquire wisdom of the heartsof others.
We swallow with one gulp the lie that flatters us, and drink drop by drop the truth which is bitter to us.
Man was born to live with his fellow human beings. Separate him, isolate him, his character will go bad, a thousand ridiculous affects will invade his heart, extravagant thoughts will germinate in his brain, like thorns in an uncultivated land.
My ideas are my whores.
Does not vanity itself cease to be blamable, is it not even ennobled, when it is directed to laudable objects, when it confines itself to prompting us to great and generous actions?