God ceases to be God only for those who can admit the possibility of His non-existence, and that conception is in itself the most severe punishment they can suffer.

Hope is nothing but a deceitful flatterer accepted by reason only because it is often in need of palliatives.

After all, a beautiful woman without a mind of her own leaves her lover with no resource after he had physically enjoyed her charms.

If I had married a woman intelligent enough to guide me, to rule me without my feeling that I was ruled, I should have taken good care of my money, I should have had children, and I should not be, as now I am, alone in the world and possessing nothing.

Those who do not love life do not deserve it.

My errors will point to thinking men the various roads, and will teach them the great art of treading on the brink of the precipice without falling into it.

When a man gets it into his head to do something, and when he exclusively occupies himself in that design, he must succeed, whatever the difficulties. That man will become Grand Vizier or Pope.