In true friendship, in which I am expert, I give myself to my friend more than I draw him to me. I not only like doing him good better than having him do me good, but also would rather have him do good to himself than to me; he does me most good when he does himself good.

If I am to serve as an instrument of deceit, at least let it be with a clear conscience. I do not want to be considered either so affectionate or so loyal a servant as to be found fit to betray anyone.

I must use these great men's virtues as a cloak for my weakness.

A man should keep for himself a little back shop, all his own, quite unadulterated, in which he establishes his true freedom and chief place of seclusion and solitude.

He who falls obstinate in his courage, if he falls he fights from his knees.

Certainly, if he still has himself, a man of understanding has lost nothing.

Nature has, herself, I fear, imprinted in man a kind of instinct to inhumanity.