In the majority of men gratitude is only a veiled desire of receiving greater benefaction.

To be a great man it is necessary to know how to profit by the whole of our good fortune.

Extreme avarice misapprehends itself almost always; there is no passion which more often misses its aim, nor upon which the present has so much influence to the prejudice of the future.

Happiness is in the taste, and not in the things.

Preserving the health by too severe a rule is a wearisome malady.

However great the advantages given us by nature, it is not she alone, but fortune with her, which makes heroes.

Hope, deceitful as it is, serves at least to lead us to the end of our lives by an agreeable route.

Humility is often only feigned submission which people use to render others submissive. It is a subterfuge of pride which lowers itself in order to rise.

Plenty of people wish to become devout, but no one wishes to be humble.

Those who are incapable of committing great crimes do not readily suspect them in others.