Youth is a continual intoxication; it is the fever of reason.

Some beautiful things are more dazzling when they are still imperfect than when they have been too perfectly crafted.

As one grows older, one becomes wiser and more foolish.

We should desire very few things passionately if we did but perfectly know the nature of the things we desire.

Most people know no other way of judging men's worth but by the vogue they are in, or the fortunes they have met with.

The generality of friends puts us out of conceit with friendship; just as the generality of religious people puts us out of conceit with religion.

L'absence diminue les mediocres passions, et augmente les grandes,comme le vent eteint les bougies, et allume le feu. Absence diminishes commonplace passions, and increases great ones, as wind extinguishes candles and kindles fire.