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.

We always love those who admire us, but we do not always love those whom we admire.

The desire to seem clever often keeps us from being so.

The gallantry of the mind consists in agreeable flattery.

There are bad people who would be less dangerous if they were quite devoid of goodness.

Love has its name borrowed by a great number of dealings and affairs that are attributed to it--in which it has no greater part than the Doge in what is done at Venice.

There are more defects in temperament than in the mind.