He is safe who admits no one to his confidence.

Commonplace minds usually condemn what is beyond the reach of their understanding.

It is more often from pride than from defective understanding that people oppose established opinions: they find the best places taken in the good party and are reluctant to accept inferior ones.

We often do shallow good in order to accomplish evil with impunity.

It seems that nature, which has so wisely disposed our bodily organs with a view to our happiness, has also bestowed on us pride, to spare us the pain of being aware of our imperfections.

There is a kind of elevation which does not depend on fortune; it is a certain air which distinguishes us, and seems to destine us for great things; it is a price which we imperceptibly set upon ourselves.

The greatest of all gifts is the power to estimate things at their true worth