One is never fortunate or as unfortunate as one imagines.

We are almost always bored by just those whom we must not find boring.

The judgments our enemies make about us come nearer to the truth than those we make about ourselves.

Nature has concealed at the bottom of our minds talents and abilities of which we are not aware.

Familiarity is a suspension of almost all the laws of civility, which libertinism has introduced into society under the notion of ease.

Perseverance is neither praiseworthy nor blameworthy; for it seems to be only the enduring of certain inclinations and opinions which men neither give themselves nor take away from themselves.

The greatest fault of a penetrating wit is to go beyond the mark.