It is very common for us to desire most what we are least qualified to obtain.
No one is much pleased with a companion who does not increase, in some respect, their fondness for themselves.
You despise a man for avarice; but you do not hate him.
Politics are now nothing more than means of rising in the world.
That is the happiest conversation where there is no competition, no vanity, but a calm, quiet interchange of sentiments...
Good sense alone is a sedate and quiescent quality, which manages its possessions well, but does not increase them; it collects few materials for its own operations, and preserves safety, but never gains supremacy.