Good taste comes more from the judgment than from the mind.

Absence abates a moderate passion and intensifies a great one - as the wind blows out a candle but fans fire into flame.

The secret of pleasing in conversation is not to explain too much everything; to say them half and leave a little for divination is a mark of the good opinion we have of others, and nothing flatters their self-love more.

We often shed tears that deceive ourselves after deceiving others.

Were we faultless, we would not derive such satisfaction from remarking the faults of others.

Neither love nor fire can subsist without perpetual motion; both cease to live so soon as they cease to hope, or to fear.

It takes more strength of character to withstand good fortune than bad.