Moderation in people who are contented comes from that calm that good fortune lends to their spirit.

Silence is the best security to the man who distrusts himself.

What is called generosity is usually only the vanity of giving; we enjoy the vanity more than the thing given.

Nothing is more ridiculous in old people that were once good-looking, than to forget that they are not so still.

Those who are incapable of committing great crimes do not readily suspect them in others.

Philosophy triumphs easily over past evils and future evils, but present evils triumph over it.

What we take for high-mindedness is very often no other than ambition well disguised, that scorns means interests, only to pursuegreater.