He who travels much has this advantage over others – that the things he remembers soon become remote, so that in a short time they acquire the vague and poetical quality which is only given to other things by time. He who has not traveled at all has this disadvantage – that all his memories are of things present somewhere, since the places with which all his memories are concerned are present.

In all climates, under all skies, man's happiness is always somewhere else.

The commonplace expression that life is nothing but a play is verified above all in this: the world speaks absolutely consistently in one way and acts absolutely consistently in another.

A dictionary can embrace only a small part of the vast tapestry of a language.

Real misanthropes are not found in solitude, but in the world; since it is experience of life, and not philosophy, which produces real hatred of mankind.

People are ridiculous only when they try or seem to be that which they are not.

Men are ready to suffer anything from others or from heaven itself, provided that, when it comes to words, they are untouched.