Whatever pretended causes we may blame our afflictions upon, it is often nothing but self-interest and vanity that produce them.

Second-rate minds usually condemn everything beyond their grasp.

We only confess our little faults to persuade people that we have no big ones.

He is not to pass for a man of reason who stumbles upon reason by chance but he who knows it and can judge it and has a true taste for it.

The moderation of people in prosperity is the effect of a smooth and composed temper, owing to the calm of their good fortune.

Sometimes there is equal or more ability in knowing how to use good advice than there is in giving it.

If there be a love pure and free from the admixture of our other passions, it is that which lies hidden in the bottom of our heart, and which we know not ourselves.