Life is paradise, and we are all in paradise, but we refuse to see it.

. . . finally, I couldn't imagine how I could live without books, and I stopped dreaming about marrying that Chinese prince. . . .

Beauty is mysterious as well as terrible. God and devil are fighting there, and the battlefield is the heart of man.

There is no idea, no fact, which could not be vulgarized and presented in a ludicrous light.

Suppose, gentleman, that man is not stupid.

I swear to you, sirs, that excessive consciousness is a disease--a genuine, absolute disease.

Is it really not possible to touch the gaming table without being instantly infected by superstition?