If one judges love by the majority of its effects, it is more like hatred than like friendship.

As long as we love, we can forgive.

Only the contemptible fear contempt.

Fortunate persons hardly ever amend their ways: they always imagine that they are in the right when fortune upholds their bad conduct.

Avarice often produces opposite results: there are an infinite number of persons who sacrifice their property to doubtful and distant expectations; others mistake great future advantages for small present interests.

The defects and faults of the mind are like wounds in the body; after all imaginable care has been taken to heal them up, still there will be a scar left behind, and they are in continual danger of breaking the skin and bursting out again.

It is often laziness and timidity that keep us within our duty while virtue gets all the credit.