III.—On Men and Manners
Paris is divided into a number of small societies which are like so many republics. They have their own customs, laws, language, and even their own jokes.
One grows up, in towns, in a gross ignorance of all that concerns the country. City-bred men are unable to tell hemp from flax, and wheat from rye. We are satisfied as long as we can feed and dress.
When we speak well of a man at court, we invariably do so for two reasons: firstly, in order that he may hear that we spoke well of him; secondly, in order that he may speak well of us in his turn.
To be successful and to secure high offices there are two ways: the high-road, on which most people pass; and the cross-road, which is the shorter.
The youth of a prince is the origin of many fortunes.
Court is where joys are evident, but artificial; where sorrows are concealed, but real.
A slave has one master; an ambitious man has as many as there are persons who may be useful to him in his career.
With five or six art terms, people give themselves out as experts in music, painting, and architecture.