Clemency, which we make a virtue of, proceeds sometimes from vanity, sometimes from indolence, often from fear, and almost always from a mixture of all three.

Great and glorious events which dazzle the beholder are represented by politicians as the outcome of grand designs whereas they are usually products of temperaments and passions.

As love increases, prudence diminishes.

The applause we give those who are new to society often proceeds from a secret envying of those already established.

Humility is often only the putting on of a submissiveness by which men hope to bring other people to submit to them; it is a morecalculated sort of pride, which debases itself with a design of being exalted; and though this vice transform itself into a thousand several shapes, yet the disguise is never more effectual nor more capable of deceiving the world than when concealed under a form of humility.

A certain harmony should be kept between actions and ideas if we want to fully develop the effects they can produce.

Humility is the altar upon which God wishes that we should offer Him His sacrifices.