We get so much in the habit of wearing disguises before others that we finally appear disguised before ourselves.

A man often thinks he rules himself, when all the while he is ruled and managed; and while his understanding directs one design, his affections imperceptibly draw him into another.

Constancy in love is a perpetual inconstancy which fixes our hearts successively to all the qualities of the person loved--sometimes admiring one and sometimes another above all the rest--so that this constancy roves as far as it can, and is no better than inconstancy, confined within the compass of one person.

When love becomes labored we welcome an act of infidelity towards ourselves to free us from fidelity.

We give nothing so freely as advice.

When our vices leave us, we like to imagine it is we who are leaving them.

A true friend is the greatest of all blessings, and that which we take the least care of all to acquire.