True bravery is shown by performing without witness what one might be capable of doing before all the world.

It is much easier to seem fitted for posts we do not fill than for those we do.

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

Men are not only prone to forget benefits; they even hate those who have obliged them, and cease to hate those who have injured them. The necessity of revenging an injury, or of recompensing a benefit seems a slavery to which they are unwilling to submit.

Were we faultless, we would not derive such satisfaction from remarking the faults of others.

A man of understanding finds less difficulty in submitting to a wrong-headed fellow, than in attempting to set him right.

Those only are despicable who fear to be despised.