Nature seems to have

Nature seems to have treasured up the depth of our mind talents and abilities that we are not aware of; it is the privilege of the passions alone to bring them to light, and to direct us sometimes to surer and more excellent aims than conscious effort could. Francois Alexandre Frederic, duc de la Rochefoucauld-Liancourt

What men have given

What men have given the name of friendship to is nothing but an alliance, a reciprocal accommodation of interest, an exchange of good offices; in it is nothing but a system of traffic, in which self-love always proposes to itself some advantage. Francois Alexandre Frederic, duc de la Rochefoucauld-Liancourt