Praise is a more ingenious, concealed, and subtle kind of flattery, that satisfies both the giver and the receiver, though by verydifferent ways. The one accepts it as a reward due to his merit; the other gives it that he may be looked upon as a just and discerning person.

The caprice of our temper is even more whimsical than that of Fortune.

Our merit gains us the esteem of the virtuous-our star that of the public.

Reconciliation with our enemies is simply a desire to better our condition, a weariness of war, or the fear of some unlucky thing from occurring.

We are never so ridiculous through what we are as through what we pretend to be.

The most brilliant fortunes are often not worth the littleness required to gain them.

Clemency, which we make a virtue of, proceeds sometimes from vanity, sometimes from indolence, often from fear, and almost always from a mixture of all three.