“If we did not flatter ourselves, the flattery of others could never harm us.”

The sure way to be cheated is to think one’s self more cunning than others.

People’s personalities, like buildings, have various facades, some pleasant to view, some not.

Perfect courage is to do without witnesses what one would be capable of doing with the world looking on.

There is only one kind of love, but there are a thousand imitations.

The accent of one’s birthplace remains in the mind and in the heart as in one’s speech.

There are bad people who would be less dangerous if they were quite devoid of goodness.

Nothing hinders a thing from being natural so much as the straining ourselves to make it seem so.

Jealousy contains more of self-love than of love.

Nothing is impossible; there are ways that lead to everything, and if we had sufficient will we should always have sufficient means. It is often merely for an excuse that we say things are impossible.

The happiness and misery of men depend no less on temper than fortune.

In sum, simply a business from which those involved propose to derive a steady profit for their own self-love.

We give advice, but we cannot give the wisdom to profit by it.

We promise according to our hopes and perform according to our fears.

We are easily comforted for the misfortunes of our friends, when those misfortunes give us an occasion of expressing our affection and solicitude.

We say little, when vanity does not make us speak.

Perfect behavior is born of complete indifference.