Man often thinks he is in control when he is being controlled, and while his mind is striving in one direction his heart is imperceptibly drawing him… - François de La Rochefoucauld

Nous aimons toujours ceux qui nous admirent; et nous n'aimons pas toujours ceux que nous admirons.

We should often be ashamed of our very best actions if the world only saw the motives which caused them.

Of all our passions, that which is most unknown to ourselves is indolence. Although the injuries it causes are very imperceptible, no other passion is more ardent or more malignant. If we consider attentively its influence we shall see that on every occasion it renders itself master of our sentiments, our interests, and our pleasures; it is the remora which arrests the course of the largest vessels, a calm more dangerous to the most important affairs than rocks or tempests. The repose of indolence is a secret spell of the mind which suspends our most ardent pursuits and our firmest resolves.