We hope to grow old and we dread old age; that is to say, we love life and we flee from death.

A man of moderate Understanding, thinks he writes divinely: A man of good Understanding, thinks he writes reasonably.

False modesty is the masterpiece of vanity: showing the vain man in such an illusory light that he appears in the reputation of the virtue quite opposite to the vice which constitutes his real character; it is a deceit.

It is a proof of boorishness to confer a favor with a bad grace; it is the act of giving that is hard and painful. How little does a smile cost?

One mark of a second-rate mind is to be always telling stories.

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

Great things astonish us, and small dishearten us. Custom makes both familiar.