What is called generosity is usually only the vanity of giving; we enjoy the vanity more than the thing given.

Sometimes there are accidents in our lives the skillful extrication from which demands a little folly.

Flattery is a kind of bad money, to which our vanity gives us currency.

Considering how little the beginning or the ceasing to love is in our own power, it is foolish and unreasonable for the lover or his mistress to complain of one another's inconstancy.

Some disguised deceits counterfeit truth so perfectly that not to be taken in by them would be an error of judgment.

What makes the pain we feel from shame and jealousy so cutting is that vanity can give us no assistance in bearing them.

It is from a weakness and smallness of mind that men are opinionated; and we are very loath to believe what we are not able to comprehend.