Incivility is not a Vice of the Soul, but the effect of several Vices; of Vanity, Ignorance of Duty, Laziness, Stupidity, Distraction, Contempt of others, and Jealousy.

Poverty may be the mother of crime, but lack of good sense is the father.

A wise man is not governed by others, nor does he try to govern them; he prefers that reason alone prevail.

How much wit, good-nature, indulgences, how many good offices and civilities, are required among friends to accomplish in some years what a lovely face or a fine hand does in a minute!

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

As long as men are liable to die and are desirous to live, a physician will be made fun of, but he will be well paid.

Some young people do not sufficiently understand the advantages of natural charms, and how much they would gain by trusting to them entirely. They weaken these gifts of heaven, so rare and fragile, by affected manners and an awkward imitation. Their tones and their gait are borrowed; they study their attitudes before the glass until they have lost all trace of natural manner, and, with all their pains, they please but little.