Our probity is not less at the mercy of fortune than our property.
Fortunate persons hardly ever amend their ways: they always imagine that they are in the right when fortune upholds their bad conduct.
The vivacity that augments with years is not far from folly.
We forget our faults easily when they are known to ourselves alone.
Nothing is rarer than true good nature; they who are reputed to have it are generally only pliant or weak.
Before we set our hearts too much upon anything, let us examine how happy they are, who already possess it.