If you must love your neighbor as yourself, it is at least as fair to love yourself as your neighbor.

Wrinkles and ill-nature together made a woman hideous.

Women bestow on friendship only what they borrow from love.

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.

Only the history of free peoples is worth our attention; the history of men under a despotism is merely a collection of anecdotes.

Most benefactors are like unskillful generals who take the city and leave the citadel intact.

Contemplation often makes life miserable. We should act more, think less, and stop watching ourselves live.