No one is so completely disenchanted with the world, or knows it so thoroughly, or is so utterly disgusted with it, that when it begins to smile upon him he does not become partially reconciled to it.

If the best company is that which we leave feeling most satisfied with ourselves, it follows that it is the company we leave most bored.

Death is not an evil, because it frees us from all evils, and while it takes away good things, it takes away also the desire for them. Old age is the supreme evil, because it deprives us of all pleasures, leaving us only the appetite for them, and it brings with it all sufferings. Nevertheless, we fear death, and we desire old age.

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

The old man, especially if he is in society in the privacy of his thoughts, though he may protest the opposite, never stops believing that, through some singular exception of the universal rule, he can in some unknown and inexplicable way still make an impression on women.

We remember childhood as the fabulous years of our lives, and nations remember their childhood as fabulous years.

There's no greater sign of being a poor philosopher and wise man than wanting all of life to be wise and philosophical.