The most effectual way to be deceived is to believe oneself more cunning than one's neighbors.
Francois de La RochefoucauldClemency, 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.
Francois de La RochefoucauldPassion makes idiots of the cleverest men, and makes the biggest idiots clever.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld