There is real love just as there are real ghosts; every person speaks of it, few persons have seen it.

A man is sometimes better off deceived about the one he loves, than undeceived.

What is called generosity is usually only the vanity of giving; we enjoy the vanity more than the thing given.

Eloquence resides as much in the tone of voice, in the eyes, and in the expression of the face, as in the choice of words.

Praise is flattery, artful, hidden, delicate, which gratifies differently him who praises and him who is praised. The one takes it as the reward of merit, the other bestows it to show his impartiality and knowledge.

To boast that one never flirts is actually a kind of flirtation.

Happiness does not consist in things themselves but in the relish we have of them; and a man has attained it when he enjoys what he loves and desires himself, and not what other people think lovely and desirable.