Loyalty is in most people only a ruse used by self-interest to attract confidence.

We would rather speak ill of ourselves than not talk about ourselves at all.

In infants, levity is a prettiness; in men a shameful defect; but in old age, a monstrous folly.

It takes more strength of character to withstand good fortune than bad.

As we grow older we grow both more foolish and wiser at the same time.

Avarice often produces opposite results: there are an infinite number of persons who sacrifice their property to doubtful and distant expectations; others mistake great future advantages for small present interests.

Men are not only prone to forget benefits; they even hate those who have obliged them, and cease to hate those who have injured them. The necessity of revenging an injury, or of recompensing a benefit seems a slavery to which they are unwilling to submit.