im is satire.

XXXVI.--One never finds in man good or evil in excess. (1665, No. 201.)

XXXVII.--Those who are incapable of committing great crimes do not
easily suspect others. (1665, No. {2}08.)

{The text incorrectly numbers this maxim as 508. It is 208.}

XXXVIII.--The pomp of funerals concerns rather the vanity of the living,
than the honour of the dead. (1665, No. 213.)

XXXIX.--Whatever variety and change appears in the world, we may remark
a secret chain, and a regulated order of all time by Providence, which
makes everything follow in due rank and fall into its destined course.
(1665, No. 225.)

XL.--Intrepidity should sustain the heart in conspiracies in place of
valour which alone furnishes all the firmness which is necessary for the
perils of war. (1665, No. 231.)

XLI.--Those who wish to define victory by her birth will be tempted to
imitate the poets, and to call her the Daughter of Heaven, since they
cannot find her origin on earth. Truly she is produced from an infinity
of actions, which instead of wishing to beget her, only look to the
particular interests of their masters, since all those who compose an
army, in aiming at their own rise and glory, produce a good so great and
general. (1665, No. 232.)

XLII.--That man who has never been in danger cannot answer for his
courage. (1665, No. 236.)

XLIII.--We more often place bounds on our gratitude than on our desires
and our hopes. (1665, No. 241.)

XLIV.--Imitation is always unhappy, for all which is counterfeit
displeases by the very things which charm us when they are original
(Naturelles). (1665, No. 245.)

XLV.--We do not regret the loss of our friends according to their
merits, but according to OUR wants, and the opinion with which we
believed we had impressed them of our worth. (1665, No. 248.)

XLVI.--It is very hard to separate the general goodness spread all over
the world from great cleverness. (1665, No. 252.)

XLVII.--For us to be always good, others should believe that they cannot
behave wickedly to us with impunity. (1665, No. 254.)

XLVIII.--A confidence in being able to please is often an infallible
means of being displeasing. (1665, No. 256.)

XLIX.--The confidence we have in ourselves arises in a great measure
from that that we have in others. (1665, No. 258.)

L.--There is a general revolution which changes the tastes of the mind
as well as the fortunes of the world. (1665, No. 250.)

LI.--Truth is foundation and