The soul's maladies have their relapses like the body's. What we take for a cure is often just a momentary rally or a new form of the disease.

The virtues and vices are all put in motion by interest.

The sure way to be cheated is to think one's self more cunning than others.

The defects of the mind, like those of the face, grow worse with age.

Jealousy is in some measure just and reasonable, since it merely aims at keeping something that belongs to us or we think belongsto us, whereas envy is a frenzy that cannot bear anything that belongs to others.

The only thing that should surprise us is that there are still some things that can surprise us.

Silence is the best tactic for he who distrusts himself.