People may be taken in once, who imagine that an author is greater in private life than other men.
Modern writers are the moons of literature; they shine with reflected light, with light borrowed from the ancients.
Men hate more steadily than they love.
The usual fortune of complaint is to excite contempt more than pity.
Men who cannot deceive others are very often successful at deceiving themselves.
Nothing is more idle than to inquire after happiness, which nature has kindly placed within our reach.