Dissimulation, even the most innocent in its nature, is ever productive of embarrassment; whether the design is evil or not artifice is always dangerous and almost inevitably disgraceful.

As riches and honor forsake a man, we discover him to be a fool, but nobody could find it out in his prosperity.

There is nothing which continues longer than a moderate fortune; nothing of which one sees sooner the end than a large fortune.

Make me chaste and To what excesses will men not go for the sake of a religion in which they believe so little and which they practice so imperfectly!

We should keep silent about those in power; to speak well of them almost implies flattery; to speak ill of them while they are alive is dangerous, and when they are dead is cowardly.

We rarely repent of speaking little, but often of speaking too much.

Generosity lies less in giving much than in giving at the right moment.