Good and bad fortune are found severally to visit those who have the most of the one or the other.

There is no accident so unfortunate but wise men will make some advantage of it, nor any so entirely fortunate but fools may turn it to their own prejudice.

We would rather see those to whom we do good, than those who do good to us.

When the philosophers despised riches, it was because they had a mind to vindicate their own merit, and take revenge upon the injustice of fortune by vilifying those enjoyments which she had not given them.

We do not praise others, ordinarily, but in order to be praised ourselves.

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.

Only the great can afford to have great defects.