We torment ourselves rather to make it appear that we are happy than to become so.

The mind cannot long play the heart's role.

We own up to minor failings, but only so as to convince others that we have no major ones.

We acknowledge that we should not talk of our wives; but we seem not to know that we should talk still less of ourselves.

Generally speaking, we would make a good bargain by renouncing all the good that people say of us, upon condition they would say no ill.

We should scarcely desire things ardently if we were perfectly acquainted with what we desire.

The defects of the mind, like those of the face, grow worse with age.