In the human heart there is a ceaseless birth of passions, so that the destruction of one is almost always the establishment of another.

It is not enough to have great qualities; We should also have the management of them.

That good disposition which boasts of being most tender is often stifled by the least urging of self-interest.

It is often hard to determine whether a clear, open, and honorable proceeding is the result of goodness or of cunning.

We arrive at the various stages of life quite as novices.

Pride has a greater share than goodness in the reproofs we give other people for their faults; and we chide them not so much to make them mend those faults as to make them believe that we ourselves are without fault.

Sometimes we lose friends for whose loss our regret is greater than our grief, and others for whom our grief is greater than our regret.