Before we set our hearts too much upon anything, let us examine how happy they are, who already possess it.

If it were not for poetry, few men would ever fall in love.

No fools are so difficult to manage as those with some brains.

Nothing is rarer than true good nature; they who are reputed to have it are generally only pliant or weak.

To understand matters rightly we should understand their details; and as that knowledge is almost infinite, our knowledge is always superficial and imperfect.

There are a great many simpletons who know themselves to be so, and who make a very cunning use of their own simplicity.

The shame that arises from praise which we do not deserve often makes us do things we should otherwise never have attempted.