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.

The health of the soul is as precarious as that of the body; for when we seem secure from passions, we are no less in danger of their infection than we are of falling ill when we appear to be well.

Perfect valour consists in doing without witnesses that which we would be capable of doing before everyone.

Consolation for unhappiness can often be found in a certain satisfaction we get from looking unhappy.

Love, like fire, cannot subsist without constant impulse; it ceases to live from the moment it ceases to hope or to fear.

When we disclaim praise, it is only showing our desire to be praised a second time.

There is such a thing as a general revolution which changes the taste of men as it changes the fortunes of the world.