Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
The reason why lovers are never bored together is that they are always talking of themselves.
The measure of great men should always be measured by the means they have used to acquire it.
The duration of our passions is no more dependent on ourselves than the duration of our lives.
Great men's honor ought always to be measured by the methods they made use of in attaining it.
We should scarcely desire things ardently if we were perfectly acquainted with what we desire.
Those who give too much attention to trifling things become generally incapable of great ones.
A fool has not material enough to be good. [Fr., Un sot n'a pas assez d'etoffe pour etre bon.]
The intellect of the generality of women serves more to fortify their folly than their reason.
People's personalities, like buildings, have various facades, some pleasant to view, some not.
Truth has scarce done so much good in the world as the false appearances of it have done hurt.
The most effectual way to be deceived is to believe oneself more cunning than one's neighbors.
The confidence which we have in ourselves give birth to much of that, which we have in others.
A man is perhaps ungrateful, but often less chargeable with ingratitude than his benefactor is.
Philosophy easily triumphs over past and future ills; but present ills triumph over philosophy.
The greatest part of intimate confidences proceed from a desire either to be pitied or admired.
Philosophy triumphs easily over past evils and future evils, but present evils triumph over it.
If one judges love by the majority of its effects, it is more like hatred than like friendship.
Timidity is a fault for which it is dangerous to reprove persons whom we wish to correct of it.
To establish yourself in the world a person must do all they can to appear already established.
The evil that we do does not attract to us so much persecution and hatred as our good qualities.
Nature has concealed at the bottom of our minds talents and abilities of which we are not aware.
If we had no faults of our own, we should not take so much pleasure in noticing those in others.
Narrowness of mind is often the cause of obstinacy; we do not easily believe beyond what we see.
The only thing that should surprise us is that there are still some things that can surprise us.
In infants, levity is a prettiness; in men a shameful defect; but in old age, a monstrous folly.
It is often laziness and timidity that keep us within our duty while virtue gets all the credit.
Pride, which inspires us with so much envy, is sometimes of use toward the moderating of it too.
If we are to judge of love by its consequences, it more nearly resembles hatred than friendship.
We should gain more by letting the world see what we are than by trying to seem what we are not.
Not all who discharge their debts of gratitude should flatter themselves that they are grateful.
A clever man should handle his interests so that each will fall in suitable order of their value.
In the misfortunes of our best friends we always find something not altogether displeasing to us.
Too great cleverness is but deceptive delicacy, true delicacy is the most substantial cleverness.
To praise princes for virtues they do not possess is to insult them without fear of consequences.
If it requires great tact to speak to the purpose, it requires no less to know when to be silent.
We often are consoled by our want of reason for misfortunes that reason could not have comforted.
The moderation of fortunate people comes from the calm which good fortune gives to their tempers.
The pleasure of love is in loving; we are happier in the passion we feel than in what we inspire.
It is worth nothing to be young without being beautiful, nor to be beautiful without being young.
The accent of a man's native country remains in his mind and his heart, as it does in his speech.
We should often blush at our noblest deeds if the world were to see all their underlying motives.
Nothing hinders a thing from being natural so much as the straining ourselves to make it seem so.
A man is ridiculous less through the characteristics he has than through those he affects to have.
Tastes in young people are changed by natural impetuosity, and in the aged are preserved by habit.
We are almost always wearied in the company of persons with whom we are not permitted to be weary.
Good and bad fortune are found severally to visit those who have the most of the one or the other.
The good or the bad fortune of men depends not less upon their own dispositions than upon fortune.
It is easier to appear worthy of a position one does not hold, than of the office which one fills.
Old people love to give good advice; it compensates them for their inability to set a bad example.
The man who leaves a woman best pleased with herself is the one whom she will soonest wish to see.