Of all our faults, the one we avow most easily is idleness; we persuade ourselves that it is allied to all the peaceable virtues,and as for the others, that it does not destroy them utterly, but only suspends the exercise of their functions.

True bravery is shown by performing without witness what one might be capable of doing before all the world.

Hope is the last thing that dies in man.

If there be a love pure and free from the admixture of our other passions, it is that which lies hidden in the bottom of our heart, and which we know not ourselves.

We are never so ridiculous through what we are as through what we pretend to be.

We should not judge a man's merits by his great qualities, but by the use he makes of them.

Satire is at once the most agreeable and most dangerous of mental qualities. It always pleases when it is refined, but we always fear those who use it too much; yet satire should be allowed when unmixed with spite, and when the person satirized can join in the satire.