Narrowness of mind is often the cause of obstinacy; we do not easily believe beyond what we see.

The duration of our passions is no more dependent on ourselves than the duration of our lives.

Good advice is something a man gives when he is too old to set a bad example.

The most violent passions sometimes leave us at rest, but vanity agitates us constantly.

We love everything on our own account; we even follow our own taste and inclination when we prefer our friends to ourselves; and yet it is this preference alone that constitutes true and perfect friendship.

Self-love, as it happens to be well or ill conducted, constitutes virtue and vice.

No matter how much care we put into hiding our passions under the appearances of devotion and honor, they can always be seen to peer out through these covers.