Vanity is the poison of agreeableness; yet as poison, when artfully and properly applied, has a salutary effect in medicine, so has vanity in the commerce and society of the world.

Unbecoming forwardness oftener proceeds from ignorance than impudence.

There is an unfortunate disposition in a man to attend much more to the faults of his companions which offend him, than to their perfections which please him.

Despair gives the shocking ease to the mind that a mortification gives to the body.

Our companions please us less from the charms we find in their conversation than from those they find in ours.

Respect is better procured by exacting than soliciting it.

As charity covers a multitude of sins before God, so does politeness before men.