Days, months, years fly away, and irrecoverably sink in the abyss of time..

The nearer we come to great men the more clearly we see that they are only men. They rarely seem great to their valets..

Rarely do they appear great before their valets. [Fr., Rarement ils sont grands vis-a-vis de leur valets-de-chambre.].

Rarely do they appear great before their valets..

The most amiable people are those who least wound the self-love of others..

Caprice in woman is the antidote to beauty..

It is easier to enrich ourselves with a thousand virtues, than to correct ourselves of a single fault..

The nearer we approach great men, the clearer we see that they are men..

Eminent station makes great men more great, and little ones less..

I never have wit until I am below stairs. [Fr., Je n'ai jamais d'esprit qu'au bas de l'escalier.].

To delay is injustice..

A coxcomb is the blockhead's man of merit..

Extremes are vicious, and proceed from men; compensation is just, and proceeds from God..

False glory is the rock of vanity; it seduces men to affect esteem by things which they indeed possess, but which are frivolous, and which for a man ….

Piety with some people, but especially with women, is either a passion, or an infirmity of age, or a fashion which must be followed..

False modesty is the masterpiece of vanity: showing the vain man in such an illusory light that he appears in the reputation of the virtue quite oppo….

Love, slow and gradual in its growth, is too much like friendship ever to be a violent passion..

When, after having read a work, loftier thoughts arise in your mind and noble and heartfelt feelings animate you, do not look for any other rule to j….

A man without characteristics is a most insipid character..

The great charm of conversation consists less in the display of one's own wit and intelligence than in the power to draw forth the resources of other….

The rarest things in the world, next to a spirit of discernment, are diamonds and pearls. [Fr., Apres l'esprit de discernement, ce qu'il y a au monde….