Sometimes we praise the way things used to be in order to blame the present, and we esteem what is no longer in order to scorn what is.

Virtue is not always where it seems to be. People sometimes acknowledge favors only to maintain their reputations, and to make themselves more impudently ungrateful for favors that they do not wish to acknowledge.

It is an admirable skill to able to sweeten a refusal with civil words which atone for the favor which we are not able to grant.

There are people so blind and self-absorbed in all matters that they always believe that, whatever they desire or think, they can impose their will on other people. Whatever bad reason they use to persuade others, these self-centered people are so caught up in the process that it seems to them all they have to do is to speak their wishes in a lofty and commanding tone of voice in order to convince everybody.

Self-love is almost always the ruling principle of our friendships. It makes us avoid all our obligations in unprofitable situations, and even causes us to forget our hostility towards our enemies when they become powerful enough to help us achieve fame or fortune.

The foolish acts of others ought to serve more as a lesson to us than an occasion to laugh at those who commit them.

All the great amusements are dangerous for the Christian life.