Most men cry better than they speak. You get more nurture out of them by pinching than addressing them.

We hate the kindness which we understand.

Good for the body is the work of the body, good for the soul the work of the soul, and good for either the work of the other.

If you would be chaste, you must be temperate.

Still we live meanly, like ants; though the fable tells us that we were long ago changed into men; like pygmies we fight with cranes; it is error upon error, and clout upon clout, and our best virtue has for its occasion a superfluous and evitable wretchedness. Our life is frittered away by detail.

Yet I experienced sometimes that the most sweet and tender, the most innocent and encouraging society may be found in any naturalobject, even for the poor misanthrope and most melancholy man. There can be no very black melancholy to him who lives in the midst of nature and has his senses still.

Only lovers know the value and magnanimity of truth.