Idiots and lunatics see only their own wit.

To eat is a necessity, but to eat intelligently is an art.

What men have called friendship is only a social arrangement, a mutual adjustment of interests, an interchange of services given and received; it is, in sum, simply a business from which those involved propose to derive a steady profit for their own self-love.

The surest proof of being endowed with noble qualities is to be free from envy.

Οur own distrust somewhat justifies the deceit of others.

Our self-love can less bear to have our tastes than our opinions condemned.

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