It is not in everyone’s power to secure wealth, office, or honors; but everyone may be good, generous, and wise.
We are so presumptuous that we think we can separate our personal interest from that of humanity, and slander mankind without compromising ourselves.
We often quarrel with the unfortunate to get rid of pitying them.
The usual pretext of those who make others unhappy is that they do it for their own good.
One can not be just if one is not humane.
Lazy people are always anxious to be doing something.
You must maintain strength of body in order to preserve strength of mind.
Clarity is the counterbalance of profound thoughts.
The maxims of men reveal their characters.
Servitude debases men to the point where they end up liking it.
It is sometimes easier to form a party than to attain by degrees the head of a party already formed.
Men dissimulate their dearest, most constant, and most virtuous inclination from weakness and a fear of being condemned.
Men crowd into honorable careers without other vocation than their vanity, or at best their love of fame.
The fruit derived from labor is the sweetest of pleasures.
When a thought is too weak to be expressed simply, it should be rejected.
The falsest of all philosophies is that which, under the pretext of delivering men from the embarrassment of their passions, counsels idleness and the abandonment and neglect of themselves.
It is good to be firm by temperament and pliant by reflection.
It is of no use to possess a lively wit if it is not of the right proportion: the perfection of a clock is not to go fast, but to be accurate.
Neither the gifts nor the blows of fortune equal those of nature.
Some authors regard morality in the same light as we regard modern architecture. Convenience is the first thing to be looked for.