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 highest skill is the true judgment of values.

Nothing is given so willingly as advice.

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.

Young women that would not be thought coquettish, and old men that would not be ridiculous, should never talk of love, as if they had any concern in it.

The most trying fools are the bright ones.

Nature seems to have treasured up the depth of our mind talents and abilities that we are not aware of; it is the privilege of the passions alone to bring them to light, and to direct us sometimes to surer and more excellent aims than conscious effort could.