The disabusing a man strongly possessed with an opinion of his own worth is the very same ill office that was done to the fool at Athens, who fancied all the ships that came into the harbor were his own.

What men have given the name of friendship to is nothing but an alliance, a reciprocal accommodation of interest, an exchange of good offices; in it is nothing but a system of traffic, in which self-love always proposes to itself some advantage.

The disabusing a man strongly possessed with an opinion of his own worth is the very same ill office that was done to the fool at Athens, who fancied all the ships that came into the harbor were his own.

However different men's fortunes may be, there is always something or other that balances the ill and the good, and makes all even at last.

More things are left undone through neglect of duty than through neglect of self-interest.

Nothing is given so willingly as advice.

The unbosoming oneself to another is a kind of release to the soul, which strives to lighten its burden and find ease by throwing off the weight that lay heavy upon it.