There are no events so disastrous that adroit men do not draw some advantage from them, nor any so fortunate that the imprudent cannot turn to their own prejudice.

In the human heart new passions are forever being born; the overthrow of one almost always means the rise of another.

The most clever and polite are content with only seeming attentive while we perceive in their mind and eyes that at the very time they are wandering from what is said and desire to return to what they want to say.

Fortune and humor govern the world.

Wit sometimes enables us to act rudely with impunity.

Some counterfeits reproduce so very well the truth that it would be a flaw of judgment not to be deceived by them.

People's personalities, like buildings, have various facades, some pleasant to view, some not.