Marriage is the best state for man in general, and every man is a worst man in proportion to the level he is unfit for marriage.

Life cannot subsist in society but by reciprocal concessions.

Every man is rich or poor according to the proportion between his desires and his enjoyments; any enlargement of wishes is therefore equally destructive to happiness with the diminution of possession, and he that teaches another to long for what he never shall obtain is no less an enemy to his quiet than if he had robbed him of part of his patrimony

Advice is offensive, it shows us that we are known to others as well as to ourselves.

The misery of man proceeds not from any single crush of overwhelming evil, but from small vexations continually repeated.

Too much vigor in the beginning of an undertaking often intercepts and prevents the steadiness and perseverance always necessary in the conduct of a complicated scheme.

The fountain of contentment must spring up in the mind.