It would not be difficult to be a better ruler than I was: for I admit that I ruled badly; and even if I was fortunate enough to satisfy my subjects, I was not fortunate enough to satisfy myself.

One can really love only once.

We grow old more through indolence, than through age.

Great armies are nothing but a collection of weakness.

Other things titillate me more keenly than the pale pleasures of marriage.

There is a star above us which unites souls of the first order, though worlds and ages separate them.

I love men, not because they are men, but because they are not women