How can we expect another to keep our secret if we have been unable to keep it ourselves?
There is a kind of elevation which does not depend on fortune; it is a certain air which distinguishes us, and seems to destine us for great things; it is a price which we imperceptibly set upon ourselves.
A wise man thinks it more advantageous not to join the battle than to win.
What is called generosity is usually only the vanity of giving; we enjoy the vanity more than the thing given.
There are various sorts of curiosity; one is from interest, which makes us desire to know that which may be useful to us; and the other, from pride which comes from the wish to know what others are ignorant of.
The accent of one’s birthplace remains in the mind and in the heart as in one’s speech.
As it is the characteristic of great wits to say much in few words, so small wits seem to have the gift of speaking much and saying nothing.
There are heroes in evil as well as in good.
We are more often treacherous through weakness than through calculation.
We may seem great in an employment below our worth, but we very often look little in one that is too big for us.
When our vices leave us, we like to imagine it is we who are leaving them.
When we disclaim praise, it is only showing our desire to be praised a second time.
Nothing is so contagious as example; and we never do any great good or evil which does not produce its like.
One is never fortunate or as unfortunate as one imagines.
There are very few things impossible in themselves; and we do not want means to conquer difficulties so much as application and resolution in the use of means.
Humility is often a false front we employ to gain power over others.
The old begin to complain of the conduct of the young when they themselves are no longer able to set a bad example.
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.
When our hatred is violent, it sinks us even beneath those we hate.
We are much harder on people who betray us in small ways than on people who betray others in great ones.