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

Gratitude is like the good faith of traders: it maintains commerce, and we often pay, not because it is just to discharge our debts, but that we may more readily find people to trust us.

Self-interest makes some people blind, and others sharp-sighted.

Nothing ought in reason to mortify our self-satisfaction more that the considering that we condemn at one time what we highly approve and commend at another.

We should manage our fortune as we do our health - enjoy it when good, be patient when it is bad, and never apply violent remedies except in an extreme necessity

Those that have had great passions esteem themselves for the rest of their lives fortunate and unfortunate in being cured of them.

It is easier to rule others than to keep from being ruled oneself.