It is oftener by the estimation of our own feelings that we exaggerate the good qualities of others than by their merit, and when we praise them we wish to attract their praise.

We acknowledge our faults in order to repair by our sincerity the damage they have done us in the eyes of others.

When love becomes labored we welcome an act of infidelity towards ourselves to free us from fidelity.

Confidence in conversation has a greater share than wit.

Of all our faults, the one we avow most easily is idleness; we persuade ourselves that it is allied to all the peaceable virtues,and as for the others, that it does not destroy them utterly, but only suspends the exercise of their functions.

Many men are contemptuous of riches; few can give them away.

People always complain about their memories, never about their minds.