Though nature be ever so generous, yet can she not make a hero alone. Fortune must contribute her part too; and till both concur, the work cannot be perfected.

Hope, deceiving as it is, serves at least to lead us to the end of our lives by an agreeable route.

We give advice, but we cannot give the wisdom to profit by it.

Timidity is a fault for which it is dangerous to reprove persons whom we wish to correct of it.

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.

The violence done us by others is often less painful than that which we do to ourselves.

When we are unable to find tranquility within ourselves, it is useless to seek it elsewhere.