No. 119. We are so much accustomed to disguise ourselves to others, that, at last, we disguise ourselves to ourselves. No. 127. The true way to be deceived is to think one's self sharper than others. The plain-spoken proverb, "A man that is his own lawyer has a fool for his client," finds a more polished expression in the following: No. 132. It is easier to be wise for others, than to be so for one's self. How pitilessly this inquisitor pursues his prey, the human soul, into all its useless hiding-places: No. 138. We would rather speak ill of ourselves, than not talk of ourselves. The following maxim, longer and less felicitously phrased than is usual with La Rochefoucauld, recalls that bitter definition of the bore--"One who insists on talking about himself all the time that you are wishing to talk about yourself": No. 139. One of the causes why we find so few people who appear reasonable and agreeable in conversation, is that there is scarcely any one who does not think more of what he wishes to say, than of replying exactly to what is said to him. The cleverest and the most compliant think it enough to show an attentive air; while we see in their eyes and in their mind a wandering from what is said to them, and a hurry to return to what they wish to say, instead of considering that it is a bad way to please or to persuade others, to try so hard to please one's self, and that to listen well is one of the greatest accomplishments we can have in conversation. If we are indignant at the maxims following, it is probably rather because they are partly true than because they are wholly false: No. 144. We are not fond of praising, and, without interest, we never praise any one. Praise is a cunning flattery, hidden and delicate, which, in different ways, pleases him who gives and him who receives it. The one takes it as a reward for his merit: the other gives it to show his equity and his discernment. No. 146. We praise generally only to be praised. No. 147. Few are wise enough to prefer wholesome blame to treacherous praise. No. 149. Disclaiming praise is a wish to be praised a second time. No. 152. If we did not flatter ourselves, the flattery of others could not hurt us. No. 184. We acknowledge our faults in order to atone, by our sincerity, for the harm they do us in the minds of others. No. 199. The desire to appear able often prevents our becoming so. No. 201. Whoever thinks he can do without the world, deceives himself much; but whoever thinks the world cannot do without him, deceives himself much more. With the following, contrast Ruskin's noble paradox, that the soldier's business, rightly conceived, is self-sacrifice; his ideal purpose being, not to kill, but to be killed: No. 214. Valor, in private soldiers, is a perilous calling, which they have taken to in order to gain their living.