It may be said that the vices await us in the journey of life like hosts with whom we must successively lodge; and I doubt whether experience would make us avoid them if we were to travel the same road a second time.

Old people love to give good advice; it compensates them for their inability to set a bad example.

It is great folly to wish to be wise all alone.

In misfortune we often mistake dejection for constancy; we bear it without daring to look on it; like cowards, who suffer themselves to be murdered without resistance.

To understand matters rightly we should understand their details; and as that knowledge is almost infinite, our knowledge is always superficial and imperfect.

There are some good marriages, but practically no delightful ones.

Flattery is a base coin which is current only through our vanity.