Prudence and love are inconsistent; in proportion as the last increases, the other decreases.

It requires greater virtues to support good fortune than bad.

The most subtle of our acts is to simulate blindness for snares that we know are set for us.

The praise we give to new comers into the world arises from the envy we bear to those who are established.

Absence diminishes mediocre passions and increases great ones, as the wind extinguishes candles and fans fires.

We have more ability than will power, and it is often an excuse to ourselves that we imagine that things are impossible.

It is difficult to define love; all we can say is, that in the soul it is a desire to rule, in the mind it is a sympathy, and in the body it is a hidden and delicate wish to possess what we love-Plus many mysteries.