Those who write against vanity want the glory of having written well, and their readers the glory of reading well, and I who write this have the same desire, as perhaps those who read this have also.

To doubt is a misfortune, but to seek when in doubt is an indispensable duty. So he who doubts and seeks not is at once unfortunate and unfair.

The last act is bloody, however pleasant all the rest of the play is: a little earth is thrown at last upon our head, and that is the end forever.

Nature has made all her truths independent of one another. Our art makes one dependent on the other. But this is not natural. Each keeps its own place.

Excuse me, pray." Without that excuse I would not have known there was anything amiss.

All men have happiness as their object: there is no exception. However different the means they employ, they all aim at the same end.

All the miseries of mankind come from one thing, not knowing how to remain alone.