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. 2.41K
Perfect courage is to do without witnesses what one would be capable of doing with the world looking on. 674
However glorious an action in itself, it ought not to pass for great if it be not the effect of wisdom and intention. 685
Few people have the wisdom to prefer the criticism that would do them good, to the praise that deceives them. 676
What men have called friendship is only a social arrangement, a mutual adjustment of interests, an interchange of services given and received; it is, in sum, simply a business from which those involved propose to derive a steady profit for their own self-love. 687
A true friend is the greatest of all blessings, and that which we take the least care of all to acquire. 990
In friendship as well as love, ignorance very often contributes more to our happiness than knowledge. 712
There is no disguise which can hide love for long where it exists, or simulate it where it does not. 595
Absence diminishes mediocre passions and increases great ones, as the wind extinguishes candles and fans fires. 646
