The health of the soul is as precarious as that of the body; for when we seem secure from passions, we are no less in danger of their infection than we are of falling ill when we appear to be well.

Our minds are lazier than our bodies.

A clever man reaps some benefit from the worst catastrophe, and a fool can turn even good luck to his disadvantage.

In all aspects of life, we take on a part and an appearance to seem to be what we wish to be--and thus the world is merely composed of actors.

All the passions are nothing else than different degrees of heat and cold of the blood.

To awaken a man who is deceived as to his own merit is to do him as bad a turn as that done to the Athenian madman who was happy in believing that all the ships touching at the port belonged to him.

We should often blush at our noblest deeds if the world were to see all their underlying motives.