Our repentances are generally not so much a concern and remorse for the harm we have done, as a fear of the harm we may have brought upon ourselves.

Envy is destroyed by true friendship, as coquetry by true love.

Pity is often a reflection of our own evils in the ills of others. It is a delicate foresight of the troubles into which we may fall.

However glorious an action in itself, it ought not to pass for great if it be not the effect of wisdom and intention.

We often make use of envenomed praise, that reveals on the rebound, as it were, defects in those praised which we dare not exposeany other way.

Envy is more irreconcilable than hatred.

If we resist our passions, it is more due to their weakness than our strength.