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?§ois duc de, 1613-1680

"Reflections; or Sentences and Moral Maxims"

"--Lord Chesterfield, LETTER 129.]
409.--We should often be ashamed of our very best
actions if the world only saw the motives which caused
them.
410.--The greatest effort of friendship is not to show
our faults to a friend, but to show him his own.
4ll.--We have few faults which are not far more
excusable than the means we adopt to hide them.
412.--Whatever disgrace we may have deserved, it
is almost always in our power to re-establish our cha-
racter.
["This is hardly a period at which the most irregular
character may not be redeemed. The mistakes of one sin
find a retreat in patriotism, those of the other in devotion."
-Junius, LETTER TO THE KING.]
413.--A man cannot please long who has only one
kind of wit.
[According to Segrais this maxim was a hit at Racine
and Boileau, who, despising ordinary conversation, talked
incessantly of literature; but there is some doubt as to
Segrais' statement.--Aime Martin.]
414.--Idiots and lunatics see only their own wit.
415.--Wit sometimes enables us to act rudely with
impunity.


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