We should scarcely desire things ardently if we were perfectly acquainted with what we desire.

Kings do with men as with pieces of money; they give them what value they please, and we are obliged to receive them at their current and not at their real value.

What seems to be generosity is often no more than disguised ambition, which overlooks a small interest in order to secure a great one.

No man is clever enough to know all the evil he does.

Philosophy easily triumphs over past and future ills; but present ills triumph over philosophy.

It is far better to be deceived than undeceived by those whom we tenderly love.

Flattery is a kind of bad money, to which our vanity gives us currency.