The health of the soul is something we can be no more sure of than that of the body; and though a man may seem far from the passions, yet he is in as much danger of falling into them as one in a perfect state of health of having a fit of sickness.

Old people are fond of giving good advice; it consoles them for no longer being capable of setting a bad example.

The cunningest dissimulation is when a man pretends to be caught in the traps others set for him; and a man is never so easily over-reached as when he is contriving to over-reach others.

We do not wish ardently for what we desire only through reason.

All the passions make us commit faults; love makes us commit the most ridiculous ones.

There are heroes in evil as well as in good.

No accidents are so unlucky [bad] but that the wise may draw some advantage [good] from them.