As riches and honor forsake a man, we discover him to be a fool, but nobody could find it out in his prosperity..

Sudden love is latest cured..

A vain man finds it wise to speak good or ill of himself; a modest man does not talk of himself..

As a man falls out of favour and his wealth declines, we discover for the first time the ridiculous aspects of his character, which were always there….

Genius and great abilities are often wanting; sometimes, only opportunities. Some deserve praise for what they have done; others for what they would ….

They that have lived a single day have lived an age..

Most men employ the first part of life to make the other part miserable. [Fr., La plupart des hommes emploient la premiere part vie a rendre l'autre ….

For a woman to be at once a coquette and a bigot is more than the humblest of husbands can bear; she should mercifully choose between the two..

How many men are like trees, already strong and full grown, which are transplanted into some gardens, to the astonishment of those people who behold ….

The very impossibility in which I find myself to prove that God is not, discloses to me His existence. [Fr., L'impossibilite ou je suis de prouver qu….

The passion of hatred is so long lived and so obstinate a malady that the surest sign of death in a sick person is their desire for reconciliation..

I do not doubt but that genuine piety is the spring of peace of mind; it enables us to bear the sorrows of life, and lessens the pangs of death: the ….

Everything has been said, and we have come too late, now that men have been living and thinking for seven thousand years and more..

The same amount of pride which makes a man treat haughtily his inferiors, makes him cringe servilely; to those above him..

The regeneration of society is the regeneration of society by individual education..

A man of variable mind is not one man, but several men in one; he multiplies himself as often as he changes his taste and manners; he is not this min….

Friendship * * * is a long time in forming, it is of slow growth, through many trials and months of familiarity..

The Great slight the men of wit, who have nothing but wit; the men of wit despise the Great, who have nothing but greatness; the good man pities them….

Misers are neither relations, nor friends, nor citizens, nor Christians, nor perhaps even human beings..

Life at court does not satisfy a man, but it keeps him from being satisfied with anything else..

A party spirit betrays the greatest men to act as meanly as the vulgar herd..