The cunningest dissimulation is when a man pretends to be caught in the traps others set for him; and a man is never so easily over-reached as when he is contriving to over-reach others.

Jealousy is not so much the love of another as the love of ourselves.

Everyone agrees that a secret should be kept intact, but everyone does not agree as to the nature and importance of secrecy. Too often we consult ourselves as to what we should say, what we should leave unsaid. There are few permanent secrets, and the scruple against revealing them will not last forever.

Great souls are not those who have fewer passions and more virtues than others, but only those who have greater designs.

Of all our faults, the one we avow most easily is idleness; we persuade ourselves that it is allied to all the peaceable virtues,and as for the others, that it does not destroy them utterly, but only suspends the exercise of their functions.

It is often hard to determine whether a clear, open, and honorable proceeding is the result of goodness or of cunning.

Nothing is so contagious as example.