We promise according to our hopes and perform according to our fears.
~ La Rochefoucauld
Few people know how to be old.
Quarrels would not last long if the fault was only on one side.
How is it that we remember the least triviality that happens to us and yet not remember how often we have recounted it to the same person?
We often forgive those who bore us but can't forgive those whom we bore.
Moderation is an ostentatious proof of our strength of character.
He who lives without folly is not as wise as he thinks.
It is not enough to succeed a friend must fail.
Before we set our hearts too much upon anything let us examine how happy they are who already possess it.
No man deserves to be praised for his goodness unless he has the strength of character to be wicked. All other goodness is generally nothing but indolence or impotence of will.
Generosity is the vanity of giving.
There are bad people who would be less dangerous if they were quite devoid of goodness.
If we resist our passions it is more due to their weakness than to our strength.
Weak people cannot be sincere.
Self-love is the greatest of all flatterers.
We are oftener treacherous through weakness than through calculation.
True eloquence consists of saying all that should be not all that could be said.
