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Though nature be ever so generous, yet can she not make a hero alone. Fortune must contribute her part too and till both concur, the work cannot be perfected.
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A work can become modern only if it is first postmodern. Postmodernism thus understood is not modernism at its end but in the nascent state, and this state is constant.
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Women’s virtue is frequently nothing but a regard to their own quiet and a tenderness for their reputation.
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The generality of virtuous women are like hidden treasures, they are safe only because nobody has sought after them.
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You can find women who have never had an affair, but it is hard to find a woman who has had just one.
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There are few virtuous women who are not bored with their trade.
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One can find women who have never had one love affair, but it is rare indeed to find any who have had only one.
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However glorious an action in itself, it ought not to pass for great if it be not the effect of wisdom and intention.
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We give advice, but we cannot give the wisdom to profit by it.
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Few people have the wisdom to prefer the criticism that would do them good, to the praise that deceives them.
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It is great folly to wish to be wise all alone.
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Though men are apt to flatter and exalt themselves with their great achievements, yet these are, in truth, very often owing not so much to design as chance.
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Some counterfeits reproduce so very well the truth that it would be a flaw of judgment not to be deceived by them.
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However greatly we distrust the sincerity of those we converse with, yet still we think they tell more truth to us than to anyone else.
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We are so used to dissembling with others that in time we come to deceive and dissemble with ourselves.
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When we disclaim praise, it is only showing our desire to be praised a second time.
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We all have enough strength to endure the misfortunes of others.
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If we resist our passions, it is more due to their weakness than our strength.
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There are a great many men valued in society who have nothing to recommend them but serviceable vices.
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Our aversion to lying is commonly a secret ambition to make what we say considerable, and have every word received with a religious respect.