You asked me where I generally lived. In my workshop [i.e. in his study] in the mornings and always in the library in the evening. Books are companions even if you don’t open them.

How fair is a garden amid the toils and passions of existence.

You must originate, and you must sympathize; yon must possess, at the same time, the habit of communicating and the habit of listening. The union is rather rare, but irresistible.

Silence often expresses 'more powerfully than speech the verdict and judgment of society.

A consistent soul believes in destiny, a capricious one in chance.

When a man fell into his anecdotage it was a sign for him to retire from the world.

A parsimony of words prodigal of sense.