A bad conscience is easier to cope with than a bad reputation.

There is a certain right by which we many deprive a man of life, but none by which we may deprive him of death; this is mere cruelty.

you must be ready to burn yourself in your own flame; how could you rise anew if you have not first become ashes?

One will seldom go wrong if one attributes extreme actions to vanity, average ones to habit, and pretty ones to fear.

You gave him an opportunity of showing greatness of character and he did not seize it. He will never forgive you for that.

We talk so abstractly about poetry because all of us are usually bad poets.

All in all, punishment hardens and renders people more insensible; it concentrates; it increases the feeling of estrangement; it strengthens the power of resistance.