The gratitude of most men is but a secret desire of receiving greater benefits.

There are heroes of wickedness, as there are of goodness.

Few people have the wisdom to prefer the criticism that would do them good, to the praise that deceives them.

We are not fond of praising, and never praise any one except from interested motives. Praise is a clever, concealed, and delicate flattery, which gratifies in different ways the giver and the receiver. The one takes it as a recompense of his merit, and the other bestows it to display his equity and discernment.

We may say of agreeableness, as distinct from beauty, that it consists in a symmetry of which we know not the rules, and a secret conformity of the features to each other, as also to the air and complexion of the person.

Indolence, languid as it is, often masters both passions and virtues.

Those who give too much attention to trifling things become generally incapable of great ones.