Never fear quarrels, but seek hazardous adventures.

Those born to wealth, and who have the means of gratifying every wish, know not what is the real happiness of life, just as those who have been tossed on the stormy waters of the ocean on a few frail planks can alone realize the blessings of fair weather.

Well, father, in the shipwreck of life, for life is an eternal shipwreck of our hopes, I cast into the sea my useless encumbrance, that is all, and I remain with my own will, disposed to live perfectly alone, and, consequently, perfectly free. (Eugenie to her father)

I am hungry, feed me; I am bored, amuse me.

Learning does not make one learned: there are those who have knowledge and those who have understanding. The first requires memory and the second philosophy

Oh! The good times when we were so unhappy.

Happiness is like those palaces in fairy tales whose gates are guarded by dragons: we must fight in order to conquer it.