It takes more strength of character to withstand good fortune than bad.

However evil men may be they dare not be openly hostile to virtue, and so when they want to attack it they pretend to find it spurious , or impute crimes to it.

Raillery is more insupportable than wrong; because we have a right to resent injuries, but are ridiculous in being angry at a jest.

Love is one and the same in the original; but there are a thousand different copies of it.

There is a kind of elevation which does not depend on fortune; it is a certain air which distinguishes us, and seems to destine us for great things; it is a price which we imperceptibly set upon ourselves.

Loyalty is in most people only a ruse used by self-interest to attract confidence.

We should wish for few things with eagerness, if we perfectly knew the nature of that which was the object of our desire.