"We only acknowledge small faults in order to make it appear that we are free from great ones."

"We often pardon those that annoy us, but we cannot pardon those we annoy."

"We may sooner be brought to love them that hate us, than them that love us more than we would have them do."

"We may seem great in an employment below our worth, but we very often look little in one that is too big for us."

"We have no patience with other people's vanity because it is offensive to our own."

"We easily forgive our friends those faults that do no affect us ourselves."

"We do not praise others, ordinarily, but in order to be praised ourselves."

"We come altogether fresh and raw into the several stages of life, and often find ourselves without experience, despite our years."

"We are very far from always knowing our own wishes."

"We are strong enough to bear the misfortunes of others."

"We are sometimes as different from ourselves as we are from others."

"We are so used to dissembling with others that in time we come to deceive and dissemble with ourselves."

"We are never so ridiculous through what we are as through what we pretend to be."

"We are never either so fortunate or so misfortunate as we imagine."

"We are easily comforted for the misfortunes of our friends, when those misfortunes give us an occasion of expressing our affection and solicitude."

"We are all strong enough to bear other men's misfortunes."

"We always love those that admire us, but we do not always love those we admire."

"We always get bored with those whom we bore."

"Virtue would go far if vanity did not keep it company."

"Too great haste to repay an obligation is a kind of ingratitude."

"Though nature be ever so generous, yet can she not make a hero alone. Fortune must contribute her part too; and till both concur, the work cannot be perfected."

"Though men are apt to flatter and exalt themselves with their great achievements, yet these are, in truth, very often owing not so much to design as chance."

"Those that have had great passions esteem themselves for the rest of their lives fortunate and unfortunate in being cured of them."

"They that apply themselves to trifling matters commonly become incapable of great ones."