Every man, however little, makes a figure in his own eyes.

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

Seldom do we talk of ourselves with success. If I condemn myself, more is believed than is expressed; if I praise myself, much less.

Custom is the great leveller. It corrects the inequality of fortune by lessening equally the pleasures of the prince and the pains of the peasant.

Were wisdom to be sold, she would give no price; every man is satisfied with the share he has from nature.

Such is the power of imagination, that even a chimerical pleasure in expectation affects us more than a solid pleasure in possession.

False praise is always confined to the great.