We wish to constitute all the happiness, or, if that cannot be, the misery of the one we love.

We are valued in this world at the rate we desire to be valued.

Foolish jokers are thick on the ground, and it rains insects of that sort everywhere. A good joker is a rarity; even a man who is such by nature finds it hard to sustain the part for long; it seldom happens that the man who makes us laugh wins our esteem.

Misers are neither relations, nor friends, nor citizens, nor Christians, nor perhaps even human beings.

A man must have very eminent qualities to hold his own without being polite.

The court is like a palace of marble; it's composed of people very hard and very polished.

Discretion is the perfection of reason, and a guide to us in all the duties of life. It is only found in men of sound sense and understanding.