Jealousy is in some measure just and reasonable, since it merely aims at keeping something that belongs to us or we think belongsto us, whereas envy is a frenzy that cannot bear anything that belongs to others.
He who lives without folly isn't so wise as he thinks.
I always say to myself, what is the most important thing we can think about at this extraordinary moment.
We rarely think people have good sense unless they agree with us.
A wise man thinks it more advantageous not to join the battle than to win.
It is often merely for an excuse that we say things are impossible.
Sometimes we think we dislike flattery, but it is only the way it is done that we dislike.
One thing which makes us find so few people who appear reasonable and agreeable in conversation is, that there is scarcely any one who does not think more of what he is about to say than of answering precisely what is said to him.
What makes us so bitter against people who outwit us is that they think themselves cleverer than we are.
It is as commendable to think well of oneself when alone, as it is ridiculous to speak well of oneself among others.
The sure way to be cheated is to think one's self more cunning than others.
We often bore others when we think we cannot possibly bore them.
One is never as happy or as unhappy as one thinks.
The reason we bitterly hate those who deceive us is because they think they are cleverer than we are.
Politeness of mind consists in thinking chaste and refined thoughts.
We think very few people sensible, except those who are of our opinion.
Our minds are lazier than our bodies.
Second-rate minds usually condemn everything beyond their grasp.
Thinkers think and doers do. But until the thinkers do and the doers think, progress will be just another word in the already overburdened vocabulary by sense.
The reason why so few people are agreeable in conversation is that each is thinking more about what he intends to say than others are saying.
However greatly we distrust the sincerity of those we converse with, yet still we think they tell more truth to us than to anyone else.
People that are conceited of their own merit take pride in being unfortunate, that themselves and others may think them considerable enough to be the envy and the mark of fortune.
The man that thinks he loves his mistress for her own sake is mightily mistaken.
A woman often thinks she regrets the lover, when she only regrets the love.
We frequently are troublesome to others, when we think it impossible for us ever to be so.
There is something to be said for jealousy, because it only designs the preservation of some good which we either have or think wehave a right to. But envy is a raging madness that cannot bear the wealth or fortune of others.
No one thinks fortune so blind as those she has been least kind to.
We often brag that we are never bored with ourselves, and are so vain as never to think ourselves bad company.
We are much mistaken if we think that men are always brave from a principle of valor, or women chaste from a principle of modesty.
A man often thinks he rules himself, when all the while he is ruled and managed; and while his understanding directs one design, his affections imperceptibly draw him into another.
Happiness does not consist in things themselves but in the relish we have of them; and a man has attained it when he enjoys what he loves and desires himself, and not what other people think lovely and desirable.
To think to be wise alone is a very great folly.
A lofty mind always thinks nobly, it easily creates vivid, agreeable, and natural fancies, places them in their best light, clothes them with all appropriate adornments, studies others' tastes, and clears away from its own thoughts all that is useless and disagreeable.
He who lives without committing any folly is not so wise as he thinks. [Fr., Qui vit sans folie n'est pas si sage qu'il croit.]
We sometimes think that we hate flattery, but we only hate the manner in which it is done. [Fr., On croit quelquefoir hair la flatterie; maid on ne hait que a maniere de flatter.]
Narrow minds think nothing right that is above their own capacity.
Men sometimes think they hate flattery, but they hate only the manner of flattering.
We are deceived if we think that mind and judgment are two different matters: judgment is but the extent of the light of the mind. This light penetrates to the bottom of matters; it remarks all that can be remarked, and perceives what appears imperceptible. Therefore we must agree that it is the extent of the light in the mind that produces all the effects which we attribute to judgment.