The sicknesses of the soul have their ups and downs like those of the body; what we take to be a cure is most often merely a respite or change of disease.

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

All the passions make us commit faults; love makes us commit the most ridiculous ones.

It is a great act of cleverness to be able to conceal one's being clever.

We are so used to dissembling with others that in time we come to deceive and dissemble with ourselves.

There are fine things that are more brilliant when they are unfinished than when finished too much.

The accent of one's birthplace remains in the mind and in the heart as in one's speech.