It's easier to know people in general than one person in particular

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

We easily forgive our friends those faults that do no affect us ourselves.

Our hopes, often though they deceive us, lead us pleasantly along the path of life.

Solemnity is a device of the body to hide the faults of the mind.

A weak mind is the only defect out of our power to mend.

Nature seems at each man's birth to have marked out the bounds of his virtues and vices, and to have determined how good or how wicked that man shall be capable of being.