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.

Children find everything in nothing; men find nothing in everything.

No human trait deserves less tolerance in everyday life, and gets less, than intolerance.

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.

If content with himself and mankind, a man is never harsh or curt.

I may be wrong, but it seems rare in our age to find a widely praised person whose own mouth is not the source of that praise.

It's not our disadvantages or shortcomings that are ridiculous, but rather the studious way we try to hide them, and our desire to act as if they did not exist.