There is an excess both in happiness and misery above our power of sensation.

If it requires great tact to speak to the purpose, it requires no less to know when to be silent.

The applause we give those who are new to society often proceeds from a secret envying of those already established.

It is no tragedy to do ungrateful people favors, but it is unbearable to be indebted to a scoundrel.

There are people who in spite of their merit disgust us and others who please us in spite of their faults.

As long as we love, we can forgive.

All our qualities, whether good or bad, are unstable and ambiguous, and almost all are at the mery of chance.