I have brought myself, by long meditation, to the conviction that a human being with a settled purpose must accomplish it, and that nothing can resist a will which will stake even existence upon its fulfillment.

The most powerful men are not public men: a public man is responsible, and a responsible man is a slave. It is private life that governs the world.

Coquettes are, but too rare. It is a career that requires great abilities, infinite pains, a gay and airy spirit. 'T is the coquette who provides all the amusements,--suggests the riding-party, plans the picnic, gives and guesses charades, acts them. She is the stirring element amid the heavy congeries of social atoms,--the soul of the house, the salt of the banquet.

I think there is nothing more lovely than the love of two beautiful women who are not envious of each other's charms.

I am bound to furnish my antagonists with arguments, but not with comprehension.

There is magic in the memory of schoolboy friendships; it softens the heart, and even affects the nervous system of those who have no heart.

The world is weary of statesmen whom democracy has degraded into politicians.