397.--We have not the courage to say generally
that we have no faults, and that our enemies have
no good qualities; but in fact we are not far from be-
lieving so.
398.--Of all our faults that which we most readily
admit is idleness: we believe that it makes all virtues
ineffectual, and that without utterly destroying, it at
least suspends their operation.
399.--There is a kind of greatness which does not
depend upon fortune: it is a certain manner what
distinguishes us, and which seems to destine us for
great things; it is the value we insensibly set upon
ourselves; it is by this quality that we gain the
deference of other men, and it is this which com-
monly raises us more above them, than birth, rank,
or even merit itself.
400.--There may be talent without position, but
there is no position without some kind of talent.
401.--Rank is to merit what dress is to a pretty
woman.
402.--What we find the least of in flirtation is love.
403.--Fortune sometimes uses our faults to exalt us,
and there are tiresome people whose deserts would be
ill rewarded if we did not desire to purchase their
absence.
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