Avarice is more opposite to economy than liberality.

If vanity does not entirely overthrow the virtues, at least it makes them all totter.

The mind cannot long play the heart's role.

Whatever pretended causes we may blame our afflictions upon, it is often nothing but self-interest and vanity that produce them.

Consolation for unhappiness can often be found in a certain satisfaction we get from looking unhappy.

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.

Most of our faults are more pardonable than the means we use to conceal them.