Jean Antoine Petit-Senn Quotes

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

To endeavor to move by the same discourse hearers who differ in age, sex, position and education is to attempt to open all locks with the same key.

The virtuous woman flees from danger; she trusts more to her prudence in shunning it than in her strength to overcome it.

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

A pedant holds more to instruct us with what he knows, than of what we are ignorant.

Envy, like flame, blackens that which is above it, and which it cannot reach.

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

There is certainly no beauty on earth which exceeds the natural loveliness of woman.

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

Women always find their bitterest foes among their own sex.

There are philanthropists who, incapable of managing their own little affairs, take upon themselves those of the whole world; but as their creditors always outnumber their disciples, they owe humanity more than she will ever owe them.

Another life, if it were not better than this, would be less a promise than a threat.

It requires less character to discover the faults of others, than to tolerate them.

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

Doubt springs from the mind; faith is the daughter of the soul.

An angry woman is vindictive beyond measure, and hesitates at nothing in her bitterness.

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

In a better world we will find our young years and our old friends.

There are wounds of self-love which one does not confess to one's dearest friends.

Do you know a young and beautiful woman who is not ready to flirt-just a little?

Pleasure and satiety live next door to each other.

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.

There are some errors so sweet that we repent them only to bring them to memory.

Of all trifles, titles are the lightest.

The hatred we bear our enemies injures their happiness less than our own.

The politics of courtiers resemble their shadows; they cringe and turn with the sun of the day.

The less power a man has, the more he likes to use it.

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

Many fortunes, like rivers, have a pure source, but grow muddy as they grow large.

When our friends are alive, we see the good qualities they lack; dead, we remember only those they possessed.

The weak-minded man is the slave of his vices and the dupe of his virtues.

None despise fame more heartily than those who have no possible claim to it.

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.

There is a proverb in the South that a woman laughs when she can, and weeps when she pleases.

Genius, like a torch, shines less in the broad daylight of the present than in the night of the past.

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

In love we are not only liable to betray ourselves, but also the secrets of others.

The happiness of the tender heart is increased by what it can take away from the wretchedness of others.

Pleasure limps for him. who enjoys it alone.