The principal point of cleverness is to know how to value things just as they deserve.

The reason we do not let our friends see the very bottom of our hearts is not so much distrust of them as distrust of ourselves.

Not all those who know their minds know their hearts as well.

There are people who in spite of their merit disgust us and others who please us in spite of their faults.

Some people are so extremely whiffling and inconsiderable that they are as far from any real faults as from substantial virtues.

If it requires great tact to speak to the purpose, it requires no less to know when to be silent.

On why I don't trust democracy without extremely powerful systems of accountability and recall What seems to be generosity is often only disguised ambition - which despises small interests to gain great ones.