Jean Antoine Petit-Senn Quotes

Those virtues which cost us dear prove that we love God; those which are easy to us prove that He loves us.

It is only before those who are glad to hear it, and anxious to spread it, that we find it easy to speak ill of others.

Public opinion is a courtesan, whom we seek to please without respecting.

The true worth of a soul is revealed as much by the motive it attributes to the actions of others as by its own deeds.

We forget the origin of a parvenu if he remembers it; we remember it if he forgets it.

Nothing for preserving the body like having no heart.

It is more pitiable once to have been rich than not to be rich now.

The great chastisement of a knave is not to be known, but to know himself.

Rage is a short-lived fury.

People who declare that they belong to no party certainly do not belong to ours.

Our virtues live upon our incomes; our vices consume our capital.

Without big words, how could many people say small things?

Age whitens hairs, but not sin.

How many wells of science there are in whose depths there is nothing but clear water!

Some delicate matters must be treated like pins, because if they are not seized by the right end, we get pricked.

Adversity, which makes us indulgent to others, renders them severe towards us.

The grave is a crucible where memory is purified; we only remember a dead friend by those qualities which make him regretted.

In giving alms, let us rather look at the needs of the poor than his claim to your charity.

The wisest man may always learn something from the humblest peasant.

We find ourselves less witty in remembering what we have said than in dreaming of what we would have said.