Passion makes idiots of the cleverest men, and makes the biggest idiots clever.

It is a great act of cleverness to be able to conceal one's being clever.

If we resist our passions it is more from their weakness than from our strength.

All the passions are nothing else than different degrees of heat and cold of the blood. [Fr., Toutes les passions ne sout autre chose que les divers degres de la chaleur et de la froideur du sang.]

There is no better proof of a man's being truly good than his desiring to be constantly under the observation of good men.

Self-interest makes some people blind, and others sharp-sighted.