When we enlarge upon the affection our friends have for us, this is very often not so much out of a sense of gratitude as from a desire to persuade people of our own great worth, that can deserve so much kindness.

Few people have the wisdom to prefer the criticism that would do them good, to the praise that deceives them.

The only thing that should astonish us is that anything can yet astonish us.

The whimsicalness of our own humor is a thousand times more fickle and unaccountable than what we blame so much in fortune.

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.

The greatest of all gifts is the power to estimate things at their true worth

There are reproaches which praise, and praises which defame.