9 True love is like ghosts, which everybody talks about and few have seen. The love of justice is simply, in the majority of men, the fear of suffering injustice. 11 Silence is the best resolve for him who distrusts himself. A man who is ungrateful is often less to blame than his benefactor. The understanding is always the dupe of the heart.
Nothing is given so profusely as advice.
The true way to be deceived is to think oneself more knowing than others. Usually we praise only to be praised. Our repentance is not so much regret for the ill we have done as fear of the ill that may happen to us in consequence. Most people judge men only by success or by fortune. 20 Hypocrisy is the homage vice pays to virtue.