The only good imitations are those that poke fun at bad originals.

Men are not only prone to forget benefits; they even hate those who have obliged them, and cease to hate those who have injured them. The necessity of revenging an injury, or of recompensing a benefit seems a slavery to which they are unwilling to submit.

Idleness and constancy fix the mind to what it finds easy and agreeable. This habit always confines and cramps up our knowledge; and no one has ever taken the trouble to stretch and carry his understanding as far as it could go.

We often are consoled by our want of reason for misfortunes that reason could not have comforted.

Moderation is represented as a virtue in order to restrain the ambition of great men, and to console those of a meaner condition in their lesser merit and fortune.

Solemnity is a device of the body to hide the faults of the mind.

One can find women who have never had one love affair, but it is rare indeed to find any who have had only one.