Moderation is represented as a virtue in order to restrain the ambition of great men, and to console those of a meaner condition in their lesser merit and fortune.

It is often hard to determine whether a clear, open, and honorable proceeding is the result of goodness or of cunning.

It is not enough to have great qualities; We should also have the management of them.

In their early passions women are in love with the lover, later they are in love with love.

Idleness is more an infirmity of the mind than of the body.

The height of ability consists in a thorough knowledge of the real value of things, and of the genius of the age in which we live.

In infants, levity is a prettiness; in men a shameful defect; but in old age, a monstrous folly.