Gratitude is merely the secret hope of further favors.

What we call generosity is for the most part only the vanity of giving; and we exercise it because we are more fond of that vanity than of the thing we give.

Though men are apt to flatter and exalt themselves with their great achievements, yet these are, in truth, very often owing not so much to design as chance.

The evil that we do does not attract to us so much persecution and hatred as our good qualities.

Gravity is a mysterious carriage of the body invented to cover the defects of the mind.

When we seek reconciliation with our enemies, it is commonly out of a desire to better our own condition, a being harassed and tired out with a state of war, and a fear of some ill accident which we are willing to prevent.

The only good imitations are those that poke fun at bad originals.