The height of ability consists in a thorough knowledge of the real value of things, and of the genius of the age in which we live.

Preserving the serious health condition is usually painful.

We acknowledge our faults in order to repair by our sincerity the damage they have done us in the eyes of others.

We easily forget our faults when no one knows them but ourselves.

When we are unable to find tranquility within ourselves, it is useless to seek it elsewhere.

Moderation is represented as a virtue in order to restrain the ambition of great men, and to console those of a meaner condition in their lesser merit and fortune.

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