Whilst weakness and timidity keep us to our duty, virtue has often all the honor.

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

Clemency, which we make a virtue of, proceeds sometimes from vanity, sometimes from indolence, often from fear, and almost always from a mixture of all three.

The less you trust others, the less you will be deceived.

The art of putting into play mediocre qualities often begets more reputation than is achieved by true merit.

Men are often so foolish as to boast and value themselves upon their passions, even those that are most vicious. But envy is a passion so full of cowardice and shame that no one every ever had the confidence to own it.

The intention of never deceiving often exposes us to deception.