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.

We frequently are troublesome to others, when we think it impossible for us ever to be so.

Pride has a greater share than goodness in the reproofs we give other people for their faults; and we chide them not so much to make them mend those faults as to make them believe that we ourselves are without fault.

There are fine things that are more brilliant when they are unfinished than when finished too much.

The head does not know how to play the part of the heart for long.

We should often blush at our noblest deeds if the world were to see all their underlying motives.

No matter how much care we put into hiding our passions under the appearances of devotion and honor, they can always be seen to peer out through these covers.