Penetration has an air of divination; it pleases our vanity more than any other quality of the mind.

It is not in the power of even the most crafty dissimulation to conceal love long, where it really is, nor to counterfeit it long where it is not.

When fortune surprises us by giving us some great office without having gradually led us to expect it, or without having raised our hopes, it is well nigh impossible to occupy it well, and to appear worthy to fill it.

History never embraces more than a small part of reality

There are no circumstances, however unfortunate, that clever people do not extract some advantage from.

Our enemies come nearer the truth in the opinions they form of us than we do in our opinion of ourselves.

We exaggerate the glory of some men in order to detract from that of others.