Sincerity is an openness of heart; we find it in very few people; what we usually see is only an artful dissimulation to win the confidence of others.

Men have written in the most convincing manner to prove that death is no evil, and this opinion has been confirmed on a thousand celebrated occasions by the weakest of men as well as by heroes. Even so I doubt whether any sensible person has ever believed it, and the trouble men take to convince others as well as themselves that they do shows clearly that it is no easy undertaking.

We easily forgive our friends those faults that do no affect us ourselves.

We are almost always wearied in the company of persons with whom we are not permitted to be weary.

Organize one's values in the order of their worth

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

When we exaggerate our friends' tenderness towards us, it is often less from gratitude than from a desire to exhibit our own virtue.