Affected simplicity is an elegant imposture.

Avarice misapprehends itself almost always. There is no passion which more often will miss its aim, nor upon which the present has so much influence to the prejudice of the future.

The thing that makes our friendships so short and changeable is that the qualities and dispositions of the soul are very hard to know, and those of the understanding and wit very easy.

The pleasure of love is in loving; we are happier in the passion we feel than in what we inspire.

Most people know no other way of judging men's worth but by the vogue they are in, or the fortunes they have met with.

To know how to hide one's ability is great skill.

A certain harmony should be kept between actions and ideas if we want to fully develop the effects they can produce.