Our enemies come nearer the truth in the opinions they form of us than we do in our opinion of ourselves.

In love deceit almost always outstrips distrust.

The shame that arises from praise which we do not deserve often makes us do things we should otherwise never have attempted.

Instead of considering that the worst way to persuade or please others is to try thus strongly to please ourselves, and that to listen well and to answer well are some of the greatest charms we can have in conversation.

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

In the human heart there is a ceaseless birth of passions, so that the destruction of one is almost always the establishment of another.

There are two things which Man cannot look at directly without flinching: the sun and death.