Why we hate with so much bitterness those who deceive us is because they think themselves more clever than we are.
Too great a hurry to discharge an obligation is a kind of ingratitude.
The moderation of those who are happy arises from the calm which good fortune bestows upon their temper.
Pride is much the same in all men; the only difference is the method and manner of showing it.
The constancy of the wise is only the talent of concealing the agitation of their hearts.
Whatever difference there appears in our fortunes, there is nevertheless a certain compensation of good and evil which renders them equal.
What we term virtue is often but a mass of various actions and divers interests, which fortune, or our own industry, manage to arrange; and it is not always from valor or from chastity that men are brave, and women chaste.
Most men expose themselves in battle enough to save their honor, few wish to do so more than sufficiently, or than is necessary to make the design for which they expose themselves succeed.
If we never flattered ourselves we should have but scant pleasure.
Sincerity is an openness of heart; we find it in very few people; what we usually see is only an artful dissimulation to win the confidence of others.