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.

There are certain people who so ardently and passionately desire a thing, that from dread of losing it they leave nothing undone to make them lose it.

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

Men blush less for their crimes than for their weaknesses and vanity.

An inconstant woman is one who is no longer in love; a false woman is one who is already in love with another person; a fickle woman is she who neither knows whom she loves nor whether she loves or not; and the indifferent woman, one who does not love at all.

Next to sound judgment, diamonds and pearls are the rarest things in the world.

The slave has but one master, the ambitious man has as many as there are persons whose aid may contribute to the advancement of his fortunes.