[Instead] of inquiring why the Roman empire was destroyed, we should rather be surprised that it had subsisted so long.

The separation of the Arabs from the rest of mankind has accustomed them to confound the ideas of stranger and enemy.

Passion, interest, or caprice, suggested daily motives for the dissolution of marriage; a word, a sign, a message, a letter, the mandate of a freedman, declared the separation; the most tender of human connections was degraded to a transient society of profit or pleasure.

The pains and pleasures of the body, howsoever important to ourselves, are an indelicate subject of conversation

If we are more affected by the ruin of a palace than by the conflagration of a cottage, our humanity must have formed a very erroneous estimate of the miseries of human life.

On the approach of spring, I withdraw without reluctance from the noisy and extensive scene of crowds without company, and dissipation without pleasure.

I am indeed rich, since my income is superior to my expenses, and my expense is equal to my wishes.