The force we use on ourselves, to prevent ourselves from loving, is often more cruel than the severest treatment at the hands of one loved.

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

Silence is the safest policy if you are unsure of yourself.

Nothing is so contagious as example; never was there any considerable good or ill done that does not produce its like. We imitate good actions through emulation, and had ones through a malignity in our nature, which shame conceals, and example sets at liberty.

Humility is the altar upon which God wishes that we should offer Him His sacrifices.

Few things are needed to make a wise man happy; nothing can make a fool content; that is why most men are miserable.

Clemency, which we make a virtue of, proceeds sometimes from vanity, sometimes from indolence, often from fear, and almost always from a mixture of all three.