Fortune turns all things to the advantage of those on whom she smiles.

What is called generosity is usually only the vanity of giving; we enjoy the vanity more than the thing given.

We often pride ourselves on even the most criminal passions, but envy is a timid and shamefaced passion we never dare to acknowledge.

One man may be more cunning than another, but no one can be more cunning than all the world.

No persons are more frequently wrong, than those who will not admit they are wrong.

To establish oneself in the world, one does all one can to seem established there already.

The shame that arises from praise which we do not deserve often makes us do things we should otherwise never have attempted.