Men frequently do good only to give themselves opportunity of doing ill with impunity.

However rare true love may be, it is less so than true friendship.

Sincerity is an openness of heart; we find it in very few people; what we usually see is only an artful dissimulation to win the confidence of others.

When great men permit themselves to be cast down by the continuance of misfortune, they show us that they were only sustained by ambition, and not by their mind; so that PLUS a great vanity, heroes are made like other men.

It is praiseworthy even to attempt a great action.

Self-love is the greatest of all flatterers.

Those that have had great passions esteem themselves for the rest of their lives fortunate and unfortunate in being cured of them.