245.—There is great ability in knowing how to conceal one's ability.
["You have accomplished a great stroke in diplomacy when you have made others think that you have only very average abilities."—La Bruyère.]
246.—What seems generosity is often disguised ambition, that despises small to run after greater interest.
247.—The fidelity of most men is merely an invention of self-love to win confidence; a method to place us above others and to render us depositaries of the most important matters.
248.—Magnanimity despises all, to win all.
249.—There is no less eloquence in the voice, in the eyes and in the air of a speaker than in his choice of words.
250.—True eloquence consists in saying all that should be, not all that could be said.
251.—There are people whose faults become them, others whose very virtues disgrace them.
["There are faults which do him honour, and virtues that disgrace him."—Junius, Letter Of 28th May, 1770.]
252.—It is as common to change one's tastes, as it is uncommon to change one's inclinations.