Men always grow vicious before they become unbelievers.

A lie does not consist in the indirect position of words, but in the desire and intention, by false speaking, to deceive and injure your neighbour.

The worthiest people are the most injured by slander, as is the best fruit which the birds have been pecking at.

Two women seldom grow intimate but at the expense of a third person.

I am convinced that if the virtuosi could once find out a world in the moon, with a passage to it, our women would wear nothing but what directly came from thence.

The two maxims of any great man at court are, always to keep his countenance, and never to keep his word.

Perpetual aiming at wit is a very bad part of conversation. It is done to support a character: it generally fails; it is a sort of insult on the company, and a restraint upon the speaker.