The very essence of politeness seems to be to take care that by our words and actions we make other people pleased with us as well as with themselves.

An assembly of the states, a court of justice, shows nothing so serious and grave as a table of gamesters playing very high; a melancholy solicitude clouds their looks; envy and rancor agitate their minds while the meeting lasts, without regard to friendship, alliances, birth or distinctions.

Men fall from great fortune because of the same shortcomings that led to their rise.

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

A woman with eyes only for one person, or with eyes always averted from him, creates exactly the same impression.

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

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.