Nothing hinders a thing from being natural so much as the straining ourselves to make it seem so.

We often pride ourselves on even the most criminal passions, but envy is a timid and shamefaced passion we never dare to acknowledge.

We should desire very few things passionately if we did but perfectly know the nature of the things we desire.

The secret of pleasing in conversation is not to explain too much everything; to say them half and leave a little for divination is a mark of the good opinion we have of others, and nothing flatters their self-love more.

The measure of great men should always be measured by the means they have used to acquire it.

The boldest stroke and best act of friendship is not to disclose our own failings to a friend, but to show him his own.

There is no disguise which can hide love for long where it exists, or simulate it where it does not.