A coxcomb is the blockhead's man of merit.

It is very rare to find ground which produces nothing; if it is not covered with flowers, with fruit trees and grains, it produces briers and pines. It is the same with man; if he is not virtuous, he becomes vicious.

A modest man never talks of himself.

Caprice in women often infringes upon the rules of decency.

When we are dead we are praised by those who survive us, though we frequently have no other merit than that of being no longer alive.

There are certain people who so ardently and passionately desire a thing, that from dread of losing it they leave nothing undone to make them lose it.

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