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.

What renders other people's vanity insufferable is that it wounds our own.

How can we expect another to keep our secret if we have been unable to keep it ourselves?

It is as easy to unknowingly deceive yourself as it is to deceive others.

When a man is in love, he doubts, very often, what he most firmly believes.

Happiness does not consist in things themselves but in the relish we have of them; and a man has attained it when he enjoys what he loves and desires himself, and not what other people think lovely and desirable.

The intellect of the generality of women serves more to fortify their folly than their reason.