In great affairs we ought to apply ourselves less to creating chances than to profiting from those that offer.

One thing which makes us find so few people who appear reasonable and agreeable in conversation is, that there is scarcely any one who does not think more of what he is about to say than of answering precisely what is said to him.

Our actions seem to have their lucky and unlucky stars, to which a great part of that blame and that commendation is due which is given to the actions themselves.

Penetration has an air of divination; it pleases our vanity more than any other quality of the mind.

The health of the soul is something we can be no more sure of than that of the body; and though a man may seem far from the passions, yet he is in as much danger of falling into them as one in a perfect state of health of having a fit of sickness.

People would never fall in love if they hadn't heard love talked about.

There are people who in spite of their merit disgust us and others who please us in spite of their faults.