The evil that we do does not attract to us so much persecution and hatred as our good qualities.

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

Ridicule dishonors a man more than dishonor does.

If we had no faults, we would not derive so much pleasure from noting those of other people.

The greater part of mankind judge of men only by their fashionableness or their fortune.

The secret of pleasing in conversation is not to explain too much everything; to say them half and leave a little for divination is a mark of the good opinion we have of others, and nothing flatters their self-love more.

Some accidents there are in life that a little folly is necessary to help us out of.