Nothing is more contagious than example, and no man does any exceeding good or exceeding ill but it spawns new deeds of the same kind. The good we imitate through emulation, the ill through the malignity of our nature, which shame keeps locked up, but example sets free.
Francois de La RochefoucauldAvarice often produces opposite results: there are an infinite number of persons who sacrifice their property to doubtful and distant expectations; others mistake great future advantages for small present interests.
Francois de La RochefoucauldWe may seem great in an employment below our worth, but we very often look little in one that is too big for us.
Francois de La Rochefoucauld