It is a mighty error to suppose that none but violent and strong passions, such as love and ambition, are able to vanquish the rest. Even idleness, as feeble and languishing as it is, sometimes reigns over them; it usurps the throne and sits paramount over all the designs and actions of our lives, and imperceptibly wastes and destroys all our passions and all our virtues.

Our actions are like the terminations of verses, which we rhyme as we please.

There is no disguise which can hide love for long where it exists, or simulate it where it does not.

A man would rather say evil of himself than say nothing.

No persons are more frequently wrong, than those who will not admit they are wrong.

We are more often treacherous through weakness than through calculation.

The surest proof of being endowed with noble qualities is to be free from envy.