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.

There are only three events in a man's life; birth, life, and death; he is not conscious of being born, he dies in pain, and he forgets to live.

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.

This great misfortune, to be incapable of solitude.

One should never risk a joke, even of the mildest and most unexceptional charters, except among people of culture and wit.

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.

Piety with some people, but especially with women, is either a passion, or an infirmity of age, or a fashion which must be followed.