Generosity lies less in giving much than in giving at the right moment. - Jean de La Bruyère

One seeks to make the loved one entirely happy, or, if that cannot be, entirely wretched.

Il y a de certaines choses dont la médiocrité est insupportable: la poésie, la musique, la peinture, le discours public. Quel supplice que celui d'entendre déclamer pompeusement un froid discours, ou prononcer de médiocres vers avec toute l'emphase d'un mauvais poète!

There is, however, nothing wanting to the idleness of a philosopher but a better name, and that meditation, conversation, and reading should be called “work.”