What often prevents our abandoning ourselves to a single vice is, our having more than one.

In the human heart new passions are forever being born; the overthrow of one almost always means the rise of another.

In the human heart there is a ceaseless birth of passions, so that the destruction of one is almost always the establishment of another.

To think to be wise alone is a very great folly.

If one acts rightly and honestly, it is difficult to decide whether it is the effect of integrity or skill.

What is called generosity is usually only the vanity of giving; we enjoy the vanity more than the thing given.

Great men's honor ought always to be measured by the methods they made use of in attaining it.