Stanislas de Boufflers, fully Marquis Stanislas-Jean de Boufflers, Chevalier de Boufflers

Men may be ungrateful, but the human race is not so.

Morality has need, that it may be well received, of the mask of fable and the charm of poetry: truth pleases less when it is naked; and it is the only virgin whom we best like to see a little clothed.

Oblivion is a second death, which great minds dread more than the first.

Taste is the mind's tact.

The greatest of all pleasures is to give pleasure to one whom we love.

The warrior who cultivates his mind polishes his arms.

The zero of friendship's thermometer.

There is enjoyment even in sadness; and the same souvenirs which have produced long regrets may also soften them.

A pedant is a precocious old man.

Conscience is the living law, and honor is to this law what piety is to religion.

Glory is safe when it is deserved; it is not so with popularity; one lasts like a mosaic, the other is effaced like a crayon drawing.

Jealousy is the sister of love, as the devil is the brother of angels.

It is not advice, but approval, which we crave.

Constancy is a saint without a worshiper.

How grand is victory, but how dear!

If we are told a man is religious, we still ask what are his morals.

Ignorance is a prolonged infancy, only deprived of its charm.

Pleasure is the flower that fades; remembrance is the lasting perfume.

The higher we rise the more isolated we become; and all elevations are cold.

Wisdom no more consists in science than happiness in wealth.