If you cannot inspire a woman with love of you, fill her above the brim with love of herself; all that runs over will be yours.

He that dies a martyr proves that he was not a knave, but by no means that he was not a fool.

To despise our own species is the price we must often pay for knowledge of it.

None are so fond of secrets as those who do not mean to keep them; such persons covet secrets as a spendthrift covets money, for the purpose of circulation.

The interests of society often render it expedient not to utter the whole truth, the interests of science never: for in this field we have much more to fear from the deficiency of truth than from its abundance.

As the gout seems privileged to attack the bodies of the wealthy, so ennui seems to exert a similar prerogative over their minds.

It is almost as difficult to make a man unlearn his errors as his knowledge.