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

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.

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

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

Even dress is apt to inflame a man's opinion of himself.

Genius is allied to a warm and inflammable constitution; delicacy of taste, to calmness and sedateness. Hence it is common to find genius in one who is a prey to every passion.

An agreeable figure and winning manner, which inspire affection without love, are always new. Beauty loses its relish, the graces never, after the longest acquaintance, they are no less agreeable than at first.