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There is little advantage in pleasing ourselves when we please no one else, for our great self-love is often chastised by the scorn of others.

Madeleine de Souvre, marquise de Sable

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Madeleine de Souvre, marquise de Sable
Littles
Chastised
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Pleasing
Self
Scorn
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Love
Please
Often
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We prefer people who are trying to imitate us more than those who are trying to equal us. This is because imitation is a sign of esteem, but the desire to equal others is a sign of envy.
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Often our good deeds make enemies for us, and the ungrateful person despises us on two counts for he is not only unwilling to acknowledge the gratitude he owes us: he does not want to have his benefactor as witness to his thankless behavior.
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The shame that comes to us as we see ourselves praised when we are unworthy of it often gives us the occasion to accomplish things that we might never have achieved without such undeserved praise.
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It is base to take advantage of our rank or greatness by making fun of those placed beneath us in life.
Madeleine de Souvre, marquise de Sable
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We think highly of men when we do not know the extent of their capabilities, for we always suppose that more exists when we only see half.
Madeleine de Souvre, marquise de Sable
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There is no one who cannot derive great help and great benefit from learning but there are also only a few people who do not receive a great harm from the light and knowledge they have received by learning, unless they use their knowledge in a manner both fit and natural for them.
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Honest and sincere acts mislead the wicked and cause them to lose their path to their own goals, because mean-spirited people usually believe that people never act without deceit.
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Mean-spirited mediocrities, especially those with a smattering of learning, are the most likely to be opinionated. Only strong minds know how to correct their opinions and abandon a bad position.
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Love is always master everywhere. It shapes the soul, the heart, and the mind wherever it exists. What matters is not the amount of love, but simply its existence in the mind and heart where it resides. And it truly appears that love is to the soul of the lover as the soul itself is to the body which it animates.
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There is a certain manner of self-absorption in speaking that always renders the speaker disagreeable. For it is as great a folly to listen only to ourselves while we are carrying on a conversation with others as it is to talk to ourselves while we are alone.
Madeleine de Souvre, marquise de Sable
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In knowledge of human affairs, we should never allow our minds to be enslaved by others by subjecting ourselves to their whims. We must maintain freedom of thought, and never accept anything of purely human authority into our heads. When we are presented with a diversity of opinions, we must choose, if we can if we cannot, we must remain in doubt.
Madeleine de Souvre, marquise de Sable
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It is such a great fault to talk too much that, in business and conversation, if what is good is also brief, it is doubly good, and one gains by brevity what one often loses by an excess of words.
Madeleine de Souvre, marquise de Sable
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When an opinionated person starts to challenge something, his mind shuts out all that could clear up the matter. The argument irritates him, however just it might be, and it seems that he is afraid of discovering the truth.
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We judge matters so superficially that ordinary acts and words, done and spoken with some flair and some knowledge of worldly matters, often succeed better than the greatest cleverness.
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Instead of taking care to acquaint ourselves with others, we only think of making ourselves known to them. It would be better to listen to other people in order to become enlightened rather than to speak so as to shine in front of them.
Madeleine de Souvre, marquise de Sable
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We would often rather seem dutiful to others than to succeed in our duties and often we would rather tell our friends that we have done them good than to do good in actuality.
Madeleine de Souvre, marquise de Sable
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There is always enough self-love hidden beneath the greatest devoutness to set limits on charity.
Madeleine de Souvre, marquise de Sable
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The ties of virtue ought to be closer than the ties of blood, since the good man is closer to another good man by their similarity of morals than the son is to his father by their similarity of face.
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The conversation of those who like to lord it over us is very disagreeable. But we should always be ready to graciously acknowledge the truth, no matter in what guise it comes to us.
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He who uses trickery should at least make use of his judgment to learn that he can scarcely hide treacherous conduct for very long among clever men who are determined to find him out, although they may pretend to be deceived in order to disguise their knowledge of his deceitfulness.
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