There are some souls so base and filthy that they love gain and interest as noble souls love fame and virtue, knowing one pleasure only, that of making money or of not losing it; anxious and avid for their ten per cent; entirely preoccupied with what is owed them; forever concerned about the depreciation or discredit of money; buried, and as it were engulfed, amid contracts, title-deeds and parchments. Such people are neither parents, friends, citizens or Christians, nor, perhaps, even men; they merely have money.

A modest man never talks of himself.

Grief at the absence of a loved one is happiness compared to life with a person one hates.

The great charm of conversation consists less in the display of one's own wit and intelligence than in the power to draw forth the resources of others.

A man can keep another's secret better than his own. A woman her own better than others.

The most exquisite pleasure is giving pleasure to others.

Avoid lawsuits beyond all things; they pervert your conscience, impair your health, and dissipate your property.