That which occasions so many mistakes in the computations of men, when they expect return for favors, is that the giver's pride and the receiver's cannot agree upon the value of the kindness done.

Jealousy contains more of self-love than of love.

We are never so easily deceived as when we imagine we are deceiving others.

Avarice misapprehends itself almost always. There is no passion which more often will miss its aim, nor upon which the present has so much influence to the prejudice of the future.

Our hopes, often though they deceive us, lead us pleasantly along the path of life.

Loyalty is in most people only a ruse used by self-interest to attract confidence.

Satire is at once the most agreeable and most dangerous of mental qualities. It always pleases when it is refined, but we always fear those who use it too much; yet satire should be allowed when unmixed with spite, and when the person satirized can join in the satire.