Gratitude is merely the secret hope of further favors.
We always like those who admire us; we do not always like those whom we admire.
He who lives without folly is not so wise as he imagines.
Preserving health by too severe a rule is a worrisome malady.
Why is it that our memory is good enough to retain the least triviality that happens to us, and yet not good enough to recollect how often we have told it to the same person?
To establish oneself in the world, one has to do all one can to appear established.
We think very few people sensible, except those who are of our opinion.
The man whom no one pleases is much more unhappy than the man who pleases no one.
Good advice is something a man gives when he is too old to set a bad example.
The pleasure of love is in loving.
Hope is the last thing that dies in man; and though it be exceedingly deceitful, yet it is of this good use to us, that while we are traveling through life it conducts us in an easier and more pleasant way to our journey's end.
It is a great ability to be able to conceal one's ability.
We all have strength enough to endure the misfortunes of others.
The glory of great men should always be measured by the means they have used to acquire it.
What seems to be generosity is often no more than disguised ambition, which overlooks a small interest in order to secure a great one.
We get so much in the habit of wearing disguises before others that we finally appear disguised before ourselves.
To eat is a necessity, but to eat intelligently is an art.
Hypocrisy is the homage which vice pays to virtue.
When our hatred is too bitter it places us below those whom we hate.
Vanity makes us do more things against inclination than reason.
We are so accustomed to disguise ourselves to others that in the end we become disguised to ourselves.
We are more interested in making others believe we are happy than in trying to be happy ourselves.
Quarrels would not last long if the fault were only on one side.
Many people despise wealth, but few know how to give it away.
It is often merely for an excuse that we say things are impossible.
Our repentance is not so much regret for the ill we have done as fear of the ill that may happen to us in consequence.
To be deceived by our enemies or betrayed by our friends in insupportable; yet by ourselves we are often content to be so treated.
We rarely think people have good sense unless they agree with us.
The only thing constant in life is change.
Pride does not wish to owe and vanity does not wish to pay.
The passions often engender their contraries.
Jealousy feeds upon suspicion, and it turns into fury or it ends as soon as we pass from suspicion to certainty.
We often forgive those who bore us, but we cannot forgive those whom we bore.
The passions are the only orators that always persuade.
Few are agreeable in conversation, because each thinks more of what he intends to say than of what others are saying, and listens no more when he himself has a chance to speak.
If we had no faults of our own, we would not take so much pleasure in noticing those of others.
Philosophy triumphs easily over past evils and future evils; but present evils triumph over it.
To listen closely and reply well is the highest perfection we are able to attain in the art of conversation.
One cannot answer for his courage when he has never been in danger.
The height of cleverness is to be able to conceal it.
The defects of the understanding, like those of the face, grow worse as we grow old.
The sort of liveliness which increases with age is not far distant from madness.
We are nearer loving those who hate us than those who love us more than we wish.
The heart is forever making the head its fool.
The most dangerous folly of old people who were once attractive is to forget that they are not so any longer.
Before we set our hearts too much upon anything, let us examine how happy those are who already possess it.
The truest mark of being born with great qualities, is being born without envy.
There are very few women in society whose virtue outlasts their beauty.
The confidence which we have in ourselves gives birth to much of that which we have in others.
We often do good in order that we may do evil with impunity.
We confess our little faults to persuade people that we have no large ones.
We would frequently be ashamed of our good deeds if people saw all of the motives that produced them.
We should often be ashamed of our finest actions if the world understood our motives.
In jealousy there is more of self-love, than of love to another.
No persons are more frequently wrong, than those who will not admit they are wrong.
When we are unable to find tranquillity within ourselves, it is useless to seek it elsewhere.
The mind cannot long act the role of the heart.
One forgives to the degree that one loves.
Confidence contributes more to conversation than wit.
The defects and faults in the mind are like wounds in the body. After all imaginable care has been taken to heal them up, still there will be a scar left behind.
Small minds are much distressed by little things. Great minds see them all but are not upset by them.
Not all those who know their minds know their hearts as well.
However brilliant an action, it should not be esteemed great unless the result of a great motive.
A true friend is the greatest of all blessings, and that which we take the least care of all to acquire.
Minds of moderate caliber ordinarily condemn everything which is beyond their range.
We should manage our fortunes as we do our health - enjoy it when good, be patient when it is bad, and never apply violent remedies except in an extreme necessity.
Few things are impracticable in themselves; and it is for want of application, rather than of means, that men fail to succeed.
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