We rarely think people have good sense unless they agree with us.

Whatever ignominy or disgrace we have incurred, it is almost always in our power to reestablish our reputation.

Jealousy is not love, but self-love.

Humility is often only a feigned submissiveness by which men hope to bring other people to submit to them; it is a more calculated sort of pride.

Praise is flattery, artful, hidden, delicate, which gratifies differently him who praises and him who is praised. The one takes it as the reward of merit, the other bestows it to show his impartiality and knowledge.

Idleness and constancy fix the mind to what it finds easy and agreeable. This habit always confines and cramps up our knowledge; and no one has ever taken the trouble to stretch and carry his understanding as far as it could go.

It is praiseworthy even to attempt a great action.