Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
Repentance is not so much remorse for what we have done as the fear of the consequences.
Moral severity in women is only a dress or paint which they use to set off their beauty.
We do not despise all those who have vices, but we do despise those that have no virtue.
Decency is the least of all laws, but yet it is the law which is most strictly observed.
The violence done us by others is often less painful than that which we do to ourselves.
The greater part of mankind judge of men only by their fashionableness or their fortune.
The generality of men have, like plants, latent properties, which chance brings to light.
Virtue would not make such advances if there were not a little vanity to keep it company.
Those who occupy their minds with small matters, generally become incapable of greatness.
It is with true love as it is with ghosts; everyone talks about it, but few have seen it.
The mark of extraordinary merit is to see those most envious of it constrained to praise.
Those who are incapable of committing great crimes do not readily suspect them in others.
The constancy of the wise is only the talent of concealing the agitation of their hearts.
To be a great man it is necessary to know how to profit by the whole of our good fortune.
To safeguard one's health at the cost of too strict a diet is a tiresome illness, indeed.
How can we expect another to keep our secret if we have been unable to keep it ourselves?
There are some faults which, when well managed, make a greater figure than virtue itself.
He is a truly virtuous man who wishes always to be open to the observation of honest men.
The common foible of women who have been handsome is to forget that they are no longer so.
Love is one and the same in the original; but there are a thousand different copies of it.
To establish oneself in the world, one does all one can to seem established there already.
We frequently are troublesome to others, when we think it impossible for us ever to be so.
Sometimes we think we dislike flattery, but it is only the way it is done that we dislike.
It is easier to fall in love when you are out of it than to get out of it when you are in.
Some weak people are so sensible of their weakness as to be able to make a good use of it.
We own up to minor failings, but only so as to convince others that we have no major ones.
Ideas often flash across our minds more complete than we could make them after much labor.
There are women who never had an intrigue; but there are scarce any who never had but one.
The passions of youth are not more dangerous to health than is the lukewarmness of old age.
Few are sufficiently wise to prefer censure which is useful to praise which is treacherous.
We should not judge a man's merits by his great qualities, but by the use he makes of them.
Passion often makes a fool of the cleverest man and often makes the most foolish men clever
In their early passions women are in love with the lover, later they are in love with love.
What often prevents our abandoning ourselves to a single vice is, our having more than one.
There may be talent without position, but there is no position without some kind of talent.
There are few people who are more often in the wrong than those who cannot endure to be so.
The most subtle of our acts is to simulate blindness for snares that we know are set for us.
The constancy of sages is nothing but the art of locking up their agitation in their hearts.
One man may be more cunning than another, but no one can be more cunning than all the world.
Men often pass from love to ambition, but they seldom come back again from ambition to love.
When we are unable to find tranquility within ourselves, it is useless to seek it elsewhere.
There are two things which Man cannot look at directly without flinching: the sun and death.
Bodily labor alleviates the pains of the mind and from this arises the happiness of the poor
If we had no faults, we would not derive so much pleasure from noting those of other people.
No accidents are so unlucky [bad] but that the wise may draw some advantage [good] from them.
A woman is faithful to her first lover for a long time - unless she happens to take a second.
A well-trained mind has less difficulty in submitting to than in guiding an ill-trained mind.
Were we faultless, we would not derive such satisfaction from remarking the faults of others.
Prudence and love are inconsistent; in proportion as the last increases, the other decreases.
We only acknowledge small faults in order to make it appear that we are free from great ones.