Virtue would not make such advances if there were not a little vanity to keep it company.

The contempt of riches in the philosophers was a concealed desire of revenging on fortune the injustice done to their merit, by despising the good she denied them.

Those whom the world has delighted to honor have oftener been influenced in their doings by ambition and vanity than by patriotism.

One forgives to the degree that one loves.

Luxury and excessive refinement are sure forerunners of the decadence of states, because when all individuals seek their own interests they neglect the public weal.

We often select envenomed praise which, by a reaction upon those we praise, shows faults we could not have shown by other means.

We often brag that we are never bored with ourselves, and are so vain as never to think ourselves bad company.