No. 347. We find few sensible people, except those who are of our way of thinking.
No. 409. We should often be ashamed of our best actions, if the world saw the motives which cause them.
No. 424. We boast of faults the reverse of those we have: when we are weak, we boast of being stubborn.
Here, at length, is a maxim that does not depress—that animates you:
No. 432. To praise noble actions heartily is in some sort to take part in them.
The following is much less exhilarating:
No. 454. There are few instances in which we should make a bad bargain, by giving up the good that is said of us, on condition that nothing bad be said.
This, also:
No. 458. Our enemies come nearer to the truth, in the opinions they form of us, than we do ourselves.
Here is a celebrated maxim, vainly “suppressed” by the author, after first publication: