Decency is the least of all laws, but yet it is the law which is most strictly observed.

We would rather speak ill of ourselves than not talk about ourselves at all.

It is easier for a man to be thought fit for an employment that he has not, than for one he stands already possessed of, and is exercising.

It is the prerogative of great men only to have great defects.

Pride, which inspires us with so much envy, is sometimes of use toward the moderating of it too.

There are no accidents so unlucky from which clever people are not able to reap some advantage, and none so lucky that the foolish are not able to turn them to their own disadvantage.

Jealousy is in some measure just and reasonable, since it merely aims at keeping something that belongs to us or we think belongsto us, whereas envy is a frenzy that cannot bear anything that belongs to others.