Those who are overreached by our cunning are far from appearing to us as ridiculous as we appear to ourselves when the cunning of others has overreached us.

We may seem great in an employment below our worth, but we very often look little in one that is too big for us.

We acknowledge our faults in order to repair by our sincerity the damage they have done us in the eyes of others.

Our distrust of another justifies his deceit.

We often credit ourselves with vices the reverse of what we have, thus when weak we boast of our obstinacy.

We often act treacherously more from weakness than from a fixed motive.

To praise princes for virtues they do not possess is to insult them without fear of consequences.