a woman, when she is heroic, is not heroic by halves.

Life is a slate where all our sins are written; from time to time we rub the sponge of repentance over it so we can begin sinning again.

living for oneself is a bad thing. The keenest intellectual pleasure comes from being able to return to the self after being absent from it for a spell. But living all the time inside the self, that most tyrannical, demanding and capricious of companions - no, one shouldn't do it.

Experience is always a trustworthy guide; it may not tell you everything, but it never lies.

nature has not changed. The night is still unsullied, the stars still twinkle, and the wild thyme smells as sweetly now as it did then ... We may be afflicted and unhappy, but no one can take from us the sweet delight which is nature's gift to those who love her and her poetry.

When I tried to draw near, you dissolved into air before my lips could touch you...

If people were not wicked I should not mind their being stupid; but, to our misfortune, they are both.