A man of understanding finds less difficulty in submitting to a wrong-headed fellow, than in attempting to set him right.
Nothing is rarer than true good nature; they who are reputed to have it are generally only pliant or weak.
Whatever ignominy or disgrace we have incurred, it is almost always in our power to reestablish our reputation.
Sometimes a fool has talent, but never judgment.
Few things are impossible in themselves: application to make them succeed fails us more often than the means.
High fortune makes both our virtues and vices stand out as objects that are brought clearly to view by the light.
Narrow minds think nothing right that is above their own capacity.
The trust that we put in ourselves makes us feel trust in others.
Most men expose themselves in battle enough to save their honor, few wish to do so more than sufficiently, or than is necessary to make the design for which they expose themselves succeed.
Sometimes there are accidents in our lives the skillful extrication from which demands a little folly.
What makes false reckoning, as regards gratitude, is that the pride of the giver and the receiver cannot agree as to the value of the benefit.
Time’s chariot-wheels make their carriage-road in the fairest face.
Youth changes its tastes by the warmth of its blood; age retains its tastes by habit.
We may say of agreeableness, as distinct from beauty, that it consists in a symmetry of which we know not the rules, and a secret conformity of the features to each other, as also to the air and complexion of the person.
The praise we give to new comers into the world arises from the envy we bear to those who are established.
It is sometimes necessary to play the fool to avoid being deceived by cunning men.
Avarice is more opposite to economy than liberality.
Men are not only prone to forget benefits; they even hate those who have obliged them, and cease to hate those who have injured them. The necessity of revenging an injury, or of recompensing a benefit seems a slavery to which they are unwilling to submit.
Man only blames himself in order that he may be praised.
The blindness of men is the most dangerous effect of their pride; it seems to nourish and augment it; it deprives them of knowledge of remedies which can solace their miseries and can cure their faults.