A pious man is one who would be an atheist if the king were.

A man has made great progress in cunning when he does not seem too clever to others.

If it be usual to be strongly impressed by things that are scarce, why are we so little impressed by virtue?

The most amiable people are those who least wound the self-love of others.

There is no employment in the world so laborious as that of making to one's self a great name; life ends before one has scarcely made the first rough draught of his work.

The regeneration of society is the regeneration of society by individual education.

That man is good who does good to others; if he suffers on account of the good he does, he is very good; if he suffers at the hands of those to whom he has done good, then his goodness is so great that it could be enhanced only by greater sufferings; and if he should die at their hands, his virtue can go no further: it is heroic, it is perfect.