Men give away nothing so liberally as their advice.

To be a great man it is necessary to know how to profit by the whole of our good fortune.

Honest people will respect us for our merit: the public, for our luck.

As it is the characteristic of great wits to say much in few words, so small wits seem to have the gift of speaking much and saying nothing.

It is a mighty error to suppose that none but violent and strong passions, such as love and ambition, are able to vanquish the rest. Even idleness, as feeble and languishing as it is, sometimes reigns over them; it usurps the throne and sits paramount over all the designs and actions of our lives, and imperceptibly wastes and destroys all our passions and all our virtues.

There are many predicaments in life that one must be a bit crazy to escape from.

We often brag that we are never bored with ourselves, and are so vain as never to think ourselves bad company.