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

We are never so happy, nor so unhappy, as we suppose ourselves to be.

Imagination does not enable us to invent as many different contradictions as there are by nature in every heart.

There are a great many men valued in society who have nothing to recommend them but serviceable vices.

What is called generosity is usually only the vanity of giving; we enjoy the vanity more than the thing given.

When the soul is ruffled by the remains of one passion, it is more disposed to entertain a new one than when it is entirely curedand at rest from all.

Coquetry is the essential characteristic, and the prevalent humor of women; but they do not all practice it, because the coquetry of some is restrained by fear or by reason.