Every generous illusion of youth leaves a wrinkle as it departs. Experience is the successive disenchanting of the things of life; it is reason enriched with the heart’s spoils.
In love we are not only liable to betray ourselves, but also the secrets of others.
The wisest man may always learn something from the humblest peasant.
There are philanthropists who, incapable of managing their own little affairs, take upon themselves those of the whole world; but as their creditors always outnumber their disciples, they owe humanity more than she will ever owe them.
It is not what we have but what we enjoy that constitutes our abundance.
True courage is like a kite; a contrary wind raises it higher.
It requires less character to discover the faults of others, than to tolerate them.
Rage is a short-lived fury.
That prudery which survives youth and beauty resembles a scarecrow left in the fields after harvest.
Some delicate matters must be treated like pins, because if they are not seized by the right end, we get pricked.
Public opinion is a courtesan, whom we seek to please without respecting.
Pleasure limps for him. who enjoys it alone.
The wonderful fortune of some writers deludes and leads to misery a great number of young people.
In giving alms, let us rather look at the needs of the poor than his claim to your charity.
Our virtues live upon our incomes; our vices consume our capital.
Do not crowd the understanding; it can comprehend so much and no more. A pint pot will not contain the measure of a quart.
The politics of courtiers resemble their shadows; they cringe and turn with the sun of the day.
The virtuous woman flees from danger; she trusts more to her prudence in shunning it than in her strength to overcome it.
People who declare that they belong to no party certainly do not belong to ours.
It is more pitiable once to have been rich than not to be rich now.
It is easy to be virtuous in prospective.