All passions exaggerate; and they are passions only because they do exaggerate.

Almost the whole of history is but a sequence of horrors.

Vain is equivalent to empty; thus vanity is so miserable a thing, that one cannot give it a worse name than its own. It proclaims itself for what it is.

He who disguises tyranny, protection, or even benefits under the air and name of friendship reminds me of the guilty priest who poisoned the sacramental bread.

One must not hope to be more than one can be.

We gild our medicines with sweets; why not clothe truth and morals in peasant garments as well?

Scandal is an importunate wasp, against which we must make no movement unless we are quite sure that we can kill it; otherwise it will return to the attack more furious than ever.