I believe absence is a great element of charm.

No enemy is indeed so terrible as a man of genius.

You know, all is development. The principle is perpetually going on. First, there was nothing, then there was something; then-I forget the next-I think there were shells, then fishes; then we came-let me see-did we come next? Never mind that; we came at last. And at the next change there will be something very superior to us-something with wings. Ah! That's it: we were fishes, and I believe we shall be crows.

The magic of first love is our ignorance that it can ever end.

The unfortunate are always egotistical.

Literature is an avenue to glory, ever open for those ingenious men who are deprived of honors or of wealth.

The governments of the present day have to deal not merely with other governments, with emperors, kings and ministers, but also with the secret societies which have everywhere their unscrupulous agents, and can at the last moment upset all the governments' plans.