Flattery is false money, which would not be current were it not for our vanity.

There are some persons who only disgust with their abilities, there are persons who please even with their faults.

Self-love increases or diminishes for us the good qualities of our friends, in proportion to the satisfaction we feel with them; and we judge of their merit by the manner in which they act towards us.

There are few occasions when we should make a bad bargain by giving up the good on condition that no ill was said of us.

Solemnity is a device of the body to hide the faults of the mind.

Timidity is a fault for which it is dangerous to reprove persons whom we wish to correct of it.

The person giving the advice returns the confidence placed in him with a disinterested eagerness... and he is usually guided only by his own interest or reputation.