155.—There are some persons who only disgust with their abilities, there are persons who please even with their faults.
156.—There are persons whose only merit consists in saying and doing stupid things at the right time, and who ruin all if they change their manners.
157.—The fame of great men ought always to be estimated by the means used to acquire it.
158.—Flattery is base coin to which only our vanity gives currency.
159.—It is not enough to have great qualities, we should also have the management of them.
160.—However brilliant an action it should not be esteemed great unless the result of a great motive.
161.—A certain harmony should be kept between actions and ideas if we desire to estimate the effects that they produce.
162.—The art of using moderate abilities to advantage wins praise, and often acquires more reputation than real brilliancy.
163.—Numberless arts appear foolish whose secre{t} motives are most wise and weighty.
164.—It is much easier to seem fitted for posts we do not fill than for those we do.