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

To a zealot every one of his own sect is a saint, while the most upright of a different sect are to him children of perdition.

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.

If you should escape the censure of others, hope not to escape your own.

Great wants proceed from great wealth; but they are undutiful children, for they sink wealth down to poverty.

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

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.