Social intercourse, even friendship among most people, is a merely a business arrangement that lasts only so long as there is need.

There is little advantage in pleasing ourselves when we please no one else, for our great self-love is often chastised by the scorn of others.

We must accustom ourselves to the follies of others and not be astonished at the foolishness that takes place in our presence.

Love is always master everywhere. It shapes the soul, the heart, and the mind wherever it exists. What matters is not the amount of love, but simply its existence in the mind and heart where it resides. And it truly appears that love is to the soul of the lover as the soul itself is to the body which it animates.

There are many people who are so inclined to say "no" that the "no" always precedes whatever we say to them. This negative quality makes them so disagreeable that, even if they do what we want them to or agree with what we say, they always lose the pleasure that they might have received had they not started off so badly.

It is better that great peoples should seek out glory, or even vanity, in their deeds, than that they should remain indifferent . For even if they are not incited to act upon virtuous principles, at least there is the saving grace that they will do things they might not have done had not vanity prompted their actions.

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.