One thing which makes us find so few people who appear reasonable and agreeable in conversation is, that there is scarcely any one who does not think more of what he is about to say than of answering precisely what is said to him.

It is sometimes necessary to play the fool to avoid being deceived by cunning men.

Passion makes idiots of the cleverest men, and makes the biggest idiots clever.

Nature makes merit, and fortune puts it to work.

It is easier to deceive yourself, and to do so unperceived, than to deceive another.

Very few people are acquainted with death. They undergo it, commonly, not so much out of resolution as custom and insensitivity; and most men die because they cannot help it.

Numberless arts appear foolish whose secret motives are most wise and weighty.