Boys should not play with weapons more dangerous than they understand.

Every year lays more earth upon us, which weighs us down from aerial regions, till we go under the earth at last.

It is only in the morning that one should marry, read unfavourable reviews, make one's will, beat one's servants, and so forth.

Once you are dancing with the devil, the prettiest capers won't help you.

Not a single man on earth knows from his own experience the how and where of his birth, only from tradition, which is often very uncertain.

There is nothing more marvelous or madder than real life.

I may be permitted, kind reader, to doubt whether you have ever been enclosed in a glass bottle, unless some vivid dream has teased you with such magical mishaps.