Human life is thus only a ...

Human life is thus only a perpetual illusion; men deceive and flatter each other. No one speaks of us in our presence as he does of us in our absence. Human society is founded on mutual deceit; few friendships would endure if each knew what his friend said of him in his absence, although he then spoke in sincerity and without passion.
Human life is thus only a perpetual illusion; men deceive and flatter each other. No one speaks of us in our presence as he does of us in our absence. Human society is founded on mutual deceit; few friendships would endure if each knew what his friend said of him in his absence, although he then spoke in sincerity and without passion.

Quotes from the same author

We are all something, but none of us are everything.
The heart has its reasons which reason knows not of.
Imagination disposes of everything; it creates beauty, justice, and happiness, which are everything in this world.
Man is equally incapable of seeing the nothingness from which he emerges and the infinity in which he is engulfed.
The least movement is of importance to all nature. The entire ocean is affected by a pebble.