“Success bestows much, but never friends.”

“Servitude degrades a man to the point where he comes to love his chains.”

“Habit is everything, even in love.”

“Only small minds are forever weighing up what should be respected and what should be loved. A man of truly great soul loves, without hesitation, all that is worthy of respect.”

(From Luc de Clapiers de Vauvenargues’s Fragments, Critical Remarks, Reflections and Maxims.)