Humility is often only a feigned submissiveness by which men hope to bring other people to submit to them; it is a more calculated sort of pride.

Great and glorious events which dazzle the beholder are represented by politicians as the outcome of grand designs whereas they are usually products of temperaments and passions.

There are bad people who would be less dangerous if they were quite devoid of goodness.

Our probity is not less at the mercy of fortune than our property.

Love of glory, fear of shame, greed for fortune, the desire to make life agreeable and comfortable, and the wish to depreciate others - all of these are often the causes of the bravery that is spoken so highly of by men.

The man whom no one pleases is much more unhappy than the man who pleases no one.

We rarely think people have good sense unless they agree with us.