Are there not some places where we seem to breathe sadness? — why, we cannot tell. It is a chain of recollections — an idea which carries you back to other times, to other places — which, very likely, have no connection with the present time and place.

It is quite rare for God to provide a great man at the necessary moment to carry out some great deep, which is why when this unusual combination of circumstance does occur, history at once records the name of the chosen one and recommends him to the admiration of posterity.

In love, writing is dangerous, not to mention pointless.

I prefer the wicked rather than the foolish. The wicked sometimes rest.

We are always in a hurry to be happy...; for when we have suffered a long time, we have great difficulty in believing in good fortune.

A person who doubts himself is like a man who would enlist in the ranks of his enemies and bear arms against himself.

I do not cling to life sufficiently to fear death.