We are nearer loving those who hate us than those who love us more than we wish.

Sometimes we think we dislike flattery, but it is only the way it is done that we dislike.

Humility is often only feigned submission which people use to render others submissive. It is a subterfuge of pride which lowers itself in order to rise.

People would never fall in love if they hadn't heard love talked about.

Happiness is in the taste, and not in the things themselves; we are happy from possessing what we like, not from possessing what others like.

The defects of the mind, like those of the face, grow worse with age.

Ability wins us the esteem of the true men; luck, that of the people.