A man finds no sweeter voice in all the world than that which chants his praise.

Women react differently: a French woman who sees herself betrayed by her husband will kill his mistress; an Italian will kill her husband; a Spaniard will kill both; and a German will kill herself.

It takes time to ruin a world, but time is all it takes.

It is the passions that do and undo everything.

There are three things I have loved but never understood. Art, music and women.

In vain we shall penetrate more and more deeply the secrets of the structure of the human body, we shall not dupe nature; we shall die as usual.

A well-cultivated mind is, so to speak, made up of all the minds of preceding ages; it is only one single mind which has been educated during all this time.