Great souls are not those who have fewer passions and more virtues than others, but only those who have greater designs.

The defects and faults of the mind are like wounds in the body; after all imaginable care has been taken to heal them up, still there will be a scar left behind, and they are in continual danger of breaking the skin and bursting out again.

Perfect valour consists in doing without witnesses that which we would be capable of doing before everyone.

The soul's maladies have their relapses like the body's. What we take for a cure is often just a momentary rally or a new form of the disease.

The accent of a man's native country remains in his mind and his heart, as it does in his speech.

If we did not have pride, we would not complain of it in others.

The most effectual way to be deceived is to believe oneself more cunning than one's neighbors.