A true friend is the most precious of all possessions and the one we take the least thought about acquiring.

Old people love to give good advice; it compensates them for their inability to set a bad example.

There is an excess both in happiness and misery above our power of sensation.

Gratitude is merely the secret hope of further favors.

Nothing ought more to humiliate men who have merited great praise than the care they still take to boast of little things.

As it is the characteristic of great wits to say much in few words, so small wits seem to have the gift of speaking much and saying nothing.

If we did not have pride, we would not complain of it in others.