What keeps us from abandoning ourselves entirely to one vice, often, is the fact that we have several.

The shame that arises from praise which we do not deserve often makes us do things we should otherwise never have attempted.

We often bore others when we think we cannot possibly bore them.

The reason why lovers are never bored together is that they are always talking of themselves.

Tastes in young people are changed by natural impetuosity, and in the aged are preserved by habit.

When fortune surprises us by giving us some great office without having gradually led us to expect it, or without having raised our hopes, it is well nigh impossible to occupy it well, and to appear worthy to fill it.

Chance corrects us of many faults that reason would not know how to correct.