The surest way to be deceived is to consider oneself cleverer than others.

Politeness is a desire to be treated politely, and to be esteemed polite oneself.

True love is like ghosts, which everyone talks about and few have seen.

Great souls are not those who have fewer passions and more virtues than others, but only those who have greater designs.

We should often feel ashamed of our best actions if the world could see all the motives which produced them.

The hunger for applause is the source for all conscious literature and heroism

The most violent passions sometimes leave us at rest, but vanity agitates us constantly.