Every man is valued in this world as he shows by his conduct that he wishes to be valued.
The most exquisite pleasure is giving pleasure to others.
Next to sound judgment, diamonds and pearls are the rarest things in the world.
A pious man is one who would be an atheist if the king were.
The exact contrary of what is generally believed is often the truth.
It’s motive alone which gives character to the actions of men.
Generosity lies less in giving much than in giving at the right moment.
As long as men are liable to die and are desirous to live, a physician will be made fun of, but he will be well paid.
Discourtesy does not spring merely from one bad quality, but from several – from foolish vanity, from ignorance of what is due to others, from indolence, from stupidity, from distraction of thought, from contempt of others, from jealousy.
There are certain things in which mediocrity is intolerable: poetry, music, painting, public eloquence. What torture it is to hear a frigid speech being pompously declaimed, or second-rate verse spoken with all a bad poet’s bombast!
False modesty is the masterpiece of vanity: showing the vain man in such an illusory light that he appears in the reputation of the virtue quite opposite to the vice which constitutes his real character; it is a deceit.
When we have run through all forms of government, without partiality to that we were born under, we are at a loss with which to side; they are all a compound of good and evil. It is therefore most reasonable and safe to value that of our own country above all others, and to submit to it.
The sublime only paints the true, and that too in noble objects; it paints it in all its phases, its cause and its effect; it is the most worthy expression or image of this truth. Ordinary minds cannot find out the exact expression, and use synonymes.
Some men promise to keep your secret and yet reveal it without knowing they are doing so; they do not wag their lips, and yet they are understood; it is read on their brow and in their eyes; it is seen through their breast; they are transparent.
If a secret is revealed, the person who has confided it to another is to be blamed.
Tyranny has no need of arts or sciences, for its policy, which is very shallow and without any refinement, only consists in shedding blood.
To give awkwardly is churlishness. The most difficult part is to give, then why not add a smile?
All confidence placed in another is dangerous if it is not perfect, for on almost all occasions we ought to tell everything or to conceal everything. We have already told too much of our secret, if one single circumstance is to be kept back.
No vice exists which does not pretend to be more or less like some virtue, and which does not take advantage of this assumed resemblance.
The whole genius of an author consists in describing well, and delineating character well. Homer, Plato, Virgil, Horace only excel other writers by their expressions and images; we must indicate what is true if we mean to write naturally, forcibly and delicately.