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

Perseverance is neither praiseworthy nor blameworthy; for it seems to be only the enduring of certain inclinations and opinions which men neither give themselves nor take away from themselves.

In friendship, as in love, we are often more happy from the things we are ignorant of than from those we are acquainted with.

Whilst weakness and timidity keep us to our duty, virtue has often all the honor.

In the human heart new passions are forever being born; the overthrow of one almost always means the rise of another.

What renders us so changeable in our friendship is, that it is difficult to know the qualities of the soul, but easy to know those of the mind.

We are deceived if we think that mind and judgment are two different matters: judgment is but the extent of the light of the mind. This light penetrates to the bottom of matters; it remarks all that can be remarked, and perceives what appears imperceptible. Therefore we must agree that it is the extent of the light in the mind that produces all the effects which we attribute to judgment.