What renders other people's vanity insufferable is that it wounds our own.

Honest people will respect us for our merit: the public, for our luck.

A respectable man may love madly, but not foolishly.

Satire is at once the most agreeable and most dangerous of mental qualities. It always pleases when it is refined, but we always fear those who use it too much; yet satire should be allowed when unmixed with spite, and when the person satirized can join in the satire.

Moderation in people who are contented comes from that calm that good fortune lends to their spirit.

Love of fame, fear of disgrace, schemes for advancement, desire to make life comfortable and pleasant, and the urge to humiliate others are often at the root of the valour men hold in such high esteem.

If one judges love by the majority of its effects, it is more like hatred than like friendship.