There is nothing that disgusts a man like getting beaten at chess by a woman.

I do not know the names of all the weeds and plants, I have to do as Adam did in his garden... name things as I find them.

In onion is strength; and a garden without it lacks flavour. The onion, in its satin wrappings, is among the most beautiful of vegetables; and it is the only one that represents the essence of things. It can almost be said to have a soul.

There is life in the ground; it goes into the seeds and also when it is stirred up goes into the man who stirs it.

There is no beauty like that which was spoiled by an accident; no accomplishments and graces are so to be envied as those that circumstances rudely hindered the development of.

Nature is entirely indifferent to any reform. She perpetuates a fault as persistently as a virtue.

One discovers a friend by chance, and cannot but feel regret that 20 or 30 years of life may have been spent without the least knowledge of him.