There are few occasions when we should make a bad bargain by giving up the good on condition that no ill was said of us.

A true friend is the most precious of all possessions and the one we take the least thought about acquiring.

Were we not proud ourselves, we should not complain of the pride of others.

Sincerity is a certain openness of heart. It is to be found in very few, and what we commonly look upon to be so is only a cunningsort of dissimulation, to insinuate ourselves into the confidence of others.

Praise is flattery, artful, hidden, delicate, which gratifies differently him who praises and him who is praised. The one takes it as the reward of merit, the other bestows it to show his impartiality and knowledge.

What makes vanity so insufferable to us, is that it hurts our own.

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