How can we expect another to keep our secret if we have been unable to keep it ourselves?

Boredom ... causes us to neglect more duties than does interest.

Pity is often a reflection of our own evils in the ills of others. It is a delicate foresight of the troubles into which we may fall.

Virtue would not make such advances if there were not a little vanity to keep it company.

Love, like fire, cannot subsist without constant impulse; it ceases to live from the moment it ceases to hope or to fear.

Men would not live in society long if they were not each others dupes.

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