If, in New York, you arrive late for an appointment, say, "I took a taxi".

People are what you make them. A scornful look turns into a complete fool a man of average intelligence. A contemptuous indifference turns into an enemy a woman who, well treated, might have been an angel.

The first recipe for happiness is: avoid too lengthy meditation on the past.

Often we allow ourselves to be upset by small things we should despise and forget. We lose many irreplaceable hours brooding over grievances that, in a year's time, will be forgotten by us and by everybody. No, let us devote our life to worthwhile actions and feelings, to great thoughts, real affections and enduring undertakings.

Men fear silence as they fear solitude, because both give them a glimpse of the terror of life's nothingness.

In literature as in love, we are astonished at what is chosen by others.

[...] marriage is one thing, and love is another...You need to have a solid canvas; nobody stops you to weave the arabesques.