A refusal of praise is a desire to be praised twice.
We may seem great in an employment below our worth, but we very often look little in one that is too big for us.
If it were not for poetry, few men would ever fall in love.
There are reproaches which praise, and praises which defame.
The desire to seem clever often keeps us from being so.
We acknowledge our faults in order to repair by our sincerity the damage they have done us in the eyes of others.