Virtue would not make such advances if there were not a little vanity to keep it company.

More from Moral Maxims and Reflections, no. 201

• Few men are sufficiently discerning to appreciate all the evil they do.
• Hypocrisy is the homage that vice pays to virtue. Maxim 128
• Interest speaks all sorts of tongues, and plays all sorts of parts, even that of disinterestedness. Maxim 39
• Neither the sun nor death can be looked at with a steady eye. Maxim 26
• Our virtues are most frequently but vices disguised. Maxim 19
• Philosophy triumphs easily over past evils and future evils; but present evils triumph over it. Maxim 22