A true friend is the greatest of all blessings, and that which we take the least care of all to acquire.

What we call generosity is for the most part only the vanity of giving; and we exercise it because we are more fond of that vanity than of the thing we give.

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

In the human heart new passions are forever being born; the overthrow of one almost always means the rise of another.

Bodily labor alleviates the pains of the mind and from this arises the happiness of the poor

The reason why lovers are never bored together is that they are always talking of themselves.

Death and the sun are not to be looked at steadily.