We often persuade ourselves to love people who are more powerful than we are, yet interest alone produces our friendship; we do not give our hearts away for the good we wish to do, but for that we expect to receive.

When we seek reconciliation with our enemies, it is commonly out of a desire to better our own condition, a being harassed and tired out with a state of war, and a fear of some ill accident which we are willing to prevent.

We love everything on our own account; we even follow our own taste and inclination when we prefer our friends to ourselves; and yet it is this preference alone that constitutes true and perfect friendship.

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

No persons are more frequently wrong, than those who will not admit they are wrong.

It is a great act of cleverness to be able to conceal one's being clever.

Virtues lose themselves in self-interest, as rivers in the sea.