It is not always from valor or from chastity that men are brave, and women chaste.

Repentance is not so much remorse for what we have done as the fear of the consequences.

A readiness to believe ill of others, before we have duly examined it, is the effect of laziness and pride. We are eager to find aculprit, and loath to give ourselves the trouble of examining the crime.

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

We confess to little faults only to persuade ourselves we have no great ones.

The fame of great men ought to be judged always by their big, fancy names.

The great interests of man: air and light, the joy of having a body, the voluptuousness of looking.