It is very rare to find ground which produces nothing; if it is not covered with flowers, with fruit trees and grains, it produces briers and pines. It is the same with man; if he is not virtuous, he becomes vicious.

They who, without any previous knowledge of us, think amiss of us, do us no harm; they attack not us, but the phantom of their own imagination.

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

The events we most desire do not happen; or, if they do, it is neither in the time nor in the circumstances when they would have given us extreme pleasure.

Time makes friendship stronger, but love weaker.

Caprice in woman is the antidote to beauty.

False modesty is the refinement of vanity. It is a lie.