Sometimes we lose friends for whose loss our regret is greater than our grief, and others for whom our grief is greater than our regret.
Tis more dishonourable to distrust a friend than to be deceived by him.
What men call friendship is no more than a partnership, a mutual care of interests, an exchange of favors - in a word, it is a sort of traffic, in which self-love ever proposes to be the gainer.
Men are inconsolable concerning the treachery of their friends or the deceptions of their enemies; and yet they are often very highly satisfied to be both deceived and betrayed by their own selves.
Self-love increases or diminishes for us the good qualities of our friends, in proportion to the satisfaction we feel with them; and we judge of their merit by the manner in which they act towards us.
The generality of friends puts us out of conceit with friendship; just as the generality of religious people puts us out of conceit with religion.
