Whom do you call bad?--Those who always want to induce shame.

Every man who has declared that some other man is an ass or a scoundrel, gets angry when the other man conclusively shows that the assertion was erroneous.

Fathers have a lot to do to make up for having sons.

The better the state is established, the fainter is humanity. To make the individual uncomfortable, that is my task.

He who cannot give anything away cannot feel anything either.

I devote myself to what I love the most, and for this very reason I hesitate to designate it with lofty words: I do not want to risk believing that it is a sublime compulsion, a law, which I obey: I love what I love the most too much to wish to appear to it as one compelled.

When self control is lacking in small things, the ability to apply it to matters of importance withers away. Every day in which one does not at least deny himself some trifle is badly spent and a threat to the day following.