Sad is his lot, who, once at least in his life, has not been a poet.

The attractiveness that exists to man in the very helplessness of woman is scarcely realized.

It is because of the servility of photography that I am fundamentally contemptuous of this chance invention which will never be an art but which plagiarizes nature by means of optics. (1848)

Experience is the only prophecy of wise men.

The impartiality of history is not that of the mirror, which merely reflects objects, but of the judge, who sees, listens, and decides.

Love is the enchanted dawn of every heart.

It is the qualities of the heart, not those of the face, that should attract us in women, because the former are durable, the latter transitory. So lovable women, like roses, retain their sweetness long after they have lost their beauty.