Many men talk like philosophers and live like fools.

Men lie, and they lie to theirselves worst of all.

[Man] progresses in all things by resolutely making a fool of himself.

Men are so self-complacent in their own affairs, and so willing to deceive themselves, that they are rescued with difficulty from this pest. If they wish to defend themselves they run the risk of becoming contemptible.

Men will not look at things as they really are, but as they wish them to be — and are ruined.

What unhappy beings men are! They constantly waver between false hopes and silly fears, and instead of relying on reason they create monsters to frighten themselves with, and phantoms which lead them astray.

Men apt to promise, are apt to forget.

It is the thoughts of men that are deceitful, Their pledges that are loose.

A man is a fool not to put everything he has, at any given moment, into what he is creating.

All men are frauds. The only difference between them is that some admit it. I myself deny it.

Men are so easy to manipulate, poor things.

But then every man is ludicrous if you look at him from outside, without taking into account what’s going on in his heart and mind.

To laugh at men of sense is the privilege of fools.

Men often swear to kill themselves, and yet
Few of them, nowadays, make good their threat