An infallible way to make your child miserable is to satisfy all his demands. Passion swells by gratification; and the impossibility of satisfying every one of his demands will oblige you to stop short at last, after he has become a little headstrong.

We part more easily with what we possess, than with our expectations of what we wish for; because expectation always goes beyond enjoyment.

Nothing so uncertain as general reputation. A man injures me from humor, passion, or interest; hates me because he has injured me; and speaks ill of me because he hates me.

The truly generous is the truly wise, and he who loves not others lives unblest!

A great mind will neither give an affront nor bear it.

False praise is always confined to the great.

Whoever appears to have much cunning has in reality very little; being deficient in the essential article, which is, to hide cunning.