"It is more often pride than lack of enlightenment that makes us oppose so stubbornly the generally accepted view of something. We find the front seats already taken on the correct side, and we do not want any of the back ones."

"It is easier to seem worthy of positions you do not hold than of those you do."

"We often boast of never being bored by ourselves; we are so vainglorious that we never want to find our own company tedious."

"Great souls are not those with fewer passions and more virtues than common souls, but simply those that have greater plans."

"If we fail to notice that our friends' affection is cooling, it proves that we have little affection ourselves."


Thank you, La Rochefoucauld.