The height of ability in the least able consists in knowing how to submit to the good leadership of others.

Our merit gains us the esteem of the virtuous-our star that of the public.

Honest people will respect us for our merit: the public, for our luck.

Great souls are not those who have fewer passions and more virtues than others, but only those who have greater designs.

Jealousy is in some measure just and reasonable, since it merely aims at keeping something that belongs to us or we think belongsto us, whereas envy is a frenzy that cannot bear anything that belongs to others.

Many young persons believe themselves natural when they are only impolite and coarse.

The same strength of character which helps a man resist love, helps to make it more violent and lasting too. People of unsettled minds are always driven about with passions, but never absolutely filled with any.