It is easier to appear worthy of a position one does not hold, than of the office which one fills.

There is no praise we have not lavished upon prudence; and yet she cannot assure to us the most trifling event.

We only acknowledge small faults in order to make it appear that we are free from great ones.

We easily forgive our friends those faults that do no affect us ourselves.

Organize one's values in the order of their worth

Sometimes there are accidents in our lives the skillful extrication from which demands a little folly.

When we exaggerate our friends' tenderness towards us, it is often less from gratitude than from a desire to exhibit our own virtue.