Without humility, we keep all our defects; and they are only crusted over by pride, which conceals them from others, and often from ourselves.

Of all our faults, the one that we excuse most easily is idleness.

Men are not only prone to forget benefits; they even hate those who have obliged them, and cease to hate those who have injured them. The necessity of revenging an injury, or of recompensing a benefit seems a slavery to which they are unwilling to submit.

The extreme delight we experience in talking about ourselves should warn us that those who listen do not share it.

The health of the soul is as precarious as that of the body; for when we seem secure from passions, we are no less in danger of their infection than we are of falling ill when we appear to be well.

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

Avarice is more opposite to economy than liberality.