We are so used to dissembling with others that in time we come to deceive and dissemble with ourselves.

Neither love nor fire can subsist without perpetual motion; both cease to live so soon as they cease to hope, or to fear.

It is given to few persons to keep this secret well. Those who lay down rules too often break them, and the safest we are able to give is to listen much, to speak little, and to say nothing that that will ever give ground or regret.

He is a truly virtuous man who wishes always to be open to the observation of honest men.

We should scarcely desire things ardently if we were perfectly acquainted with what we desire.

The praise we give to new comers into the world arises from the envy we bear to those who are established.

Humility is often only feigned submission which people use to render others submissive. It is a subterfuge of pride which lowers itself in order to rise.