Gratitude is merely the secret hope of further favors. — Francois de La Rochefoucauld. French author of maxims and memoirs (1613–1680) , Francious de la Rochefoucauld , La Rochefoucauld. Topics referred to by the same term Gratitude
Before we set our hearts too much upon anything, let us examine how happy those are who already possess it.
Absence diminishes mediocre passions and increases great ones, as the wind blows out candles and fans fire.
Why is it that our memory is good enough to retain the least triviality that happens to us, and yet not good enough to recollect how often we have told it to the same person?