Smallness of mind is the cause of stubbornness, and we do not credit readily what is beyond our view.
In great affairs we ought to apply ourselves less to creating chances than to profiting from those that offer.
Men would not live in society long if they were not each others dupes.
The duration of our passions is no more dependent on ourselves than the duration of our lives.
Solemnity is a device of the body to hide the faults of the mind.
We often pride ourselves on even the most criminal passions, but envy is a timid and shamefaced passion we never dare to acknowledge.
There are reproaches which praise, and praises which defame.
Ridicule dishonours more than dishonour.
It is difficult to like those whom we do not esteem; but it is no less so to like those whom we esteem more than ourselves.
The only security is courage.
Affected simplicity is an elegant imposture.
However much we may distrust men’s sincerity, we always believe they speak to us more sincerely than to others.
We feel good and ill only in proportion to our self-love.
There are some bad qualities which make great talents.
Sometimes we think we dislike flattery, but it is only the way it is done that we dislike.
Tastes in young people are changed by natural impetuosity, and in the aged are preserved by habit.
The tranquility or agitation of our temper does not depend so much on the big things which happen to us in life, as on the pleasant or unpleasant arrangements of the little things which happen daily.
Sobriety is love of health, or inability to eat much.
Truth does less good in the world than its appearances do harm.
The most violent passions sometimes leave us at rest, but vanity agitates us constantly.