Great men should not have great faults.

When we exaggerate our friends' tenderness towards us, it is often less from gratitude than from a desire to exhibit our own virtue.

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

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.

Pride does not wish to owe and vanity does not wish to pay.

In love deceit almost always outstrips distrust.

Gratitude is like the good faith of traders: it maintains commerce, and we often pay, not because it is just to discharge our debts, but that we may more readily find people to trust us.