What makes false reckoning, as regards gratitude, is that the pride of the giver and the receiver cannot agree as to the value of the benefit.

Some reproaches praise; some praises reproach.

True bravery is shown by performing without witness what one might be capable of doing before all the world.

It is much easier to seem fitted for posts we do not fill than for those we do.

When we seek reconciliation with our enemies, it is commonly out of a desire to better our own condition, a being harassed and tired out with a state of war, and a fear of some ill accident which we are willing to prevent.

It seems that nature, which has so wisely disposed our bodily organs with a view to our happiness, has also bestowed on us pride, to spare us the pain of being aware of our imperfections.

We acknowledge our faults in order to repair by our sincerity the damage they have done us in the eyes of others.