All passions exaggerate; and they are passions only because they do exaggerate.
There are two things that one must get used to or one will find life unendurable: the damages of time and injustices of men.
People are governed by the head; a kind heart is of little value in chess.
It must be admitted that there are some parts of the soul which we must entirely paralyse before we can live happily in this world.
Egotism is the tongue of vanity.
In order to forgive reason for the evil it has wrought on the majority of men, we must imagine for ourselves what man would be without his reason. 'Tis a necessary evil.