There is speaking well, speaking easily, speaking justly and speaking seasonably: It is offending against the last, to speak of entertainments before the indigent; of sound limbs and health before the infirm; of houses and lands before one who has not so much as a dwelling; in a word, to speak of your prosperity before the miserable; this conversation is cruel, and the comparison which naturally arises in them betwixt their condition and yours is excruciating.

Everything has been said, and we have come too late, now that men have been living and thinking for seven thousand years and more.

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

Cunning is none of the best nor worst qualities; it floats between virtue and vice; there is scarce any exigence where it may not, and perhaps ought not to be supplied by prudence.

Two persons cannot long be friends if they cannot forgive each other's little failings.

Praise, of all things, is the most powerful excitement to commendable actions, and animates us in our enterprises.

It is a great misfortune neither to have enough wit to talk well nor enough judgment to be silent.