The greatest fault of a penetrating wit is to go beyond the mark.
Even women are perfect at the outset.
What makes vanity so insufferable to us, is that it hurts our own.
Were we perfectly acquainted with the object, we should never passionately desire it.
We do not like to praise, and seldom praise anyone without self-interest.
We often in our misfortunes take that for constancy and patience which is only dejection of mind; we suffer without daring to holdup our heads, just as cowards let themselves be knocked on the head because they have not courage to strike back.