As great minds have the faculty of saying a great deal in a few words, so lesser minds have a talent of talking much, and saying nothing.

Of all our faults, the one we avow most easily is idleness; we persuade ourselves that it is allied to all the peaceable virtues,and as for the others, that it does not destroy them utterly, but only suspends the exercise of their functions.

The greatest part of intimate confidences proceed from a desire either to be pitied or admired.

Moderation in people who are contented comes from that calm that good fortune lends to their spirit.

We may seem great in an employment below our worth, but we very often look little in one that is too big for us.

All our qualities, whether good or bad, are unstable and ambiguous, and almost all are at the mery of chance.

However evil men may be they dare not be openly hostile to virtue, and so when they want to attack it they pretend to find it spurious , or impute crimes to it.