When orators and auditors have the same prejudices, those prejudices run a great risk of being made to stand for incontestable truths.

Present unhappiness is selfish; past sorrow is compassionate.

Not all of those to whom we do good love us, neither do all those to whom we do evil hate us.

Success causes us to be more praised than known.

There are people who laugh to show their fine teeth; and there are those who cry to show their good hearts.

Like those statues which must be made larger than "nature" in order that, viewed from below, or from a distance, they may appear to be of the "natural" size, certain truths must be "strained" in order that the public may form a just idea of them.

The chief cause of our misery is less the violence of our passions than the feebleness of our virtues.