I know of a charm by way of a prayer that will preserve a man from the violence of guns and all manner of fire-weapons and engines but it will do me no good because I do not believe it

Languages exist by arbitrary institutions and conventions among peoples; words, as the dialecticians tell us, do not signify naturally, but at our pleasure.

We always long for the forbidden things, and desire what is denied us.

But where are the snows of last year? That was the greatest concern of Villon, the Parisian poet.

Time, which wears down and diminishes all things, augments and increases good deeds, because a good turn liberally offered to a reasonable man grows continually through noble thought and memory.

It is better to write of laughter than of tears, for laughter is the property of man.

Not everyone is a debtor who wishes to be; not everyone who wishes makes creditors.