Writing history is like drinking an ocean and pissing a cupful.

If you participate in life, you don’t see it clearly: you suffer from it too much or enjoy it too much. The artist, to my way of thinking, is a monstrosity, something outside nature. All the misfortunes Providence inflicts on him come from his stubborness in denying that maxim.

The public wants work which flatters its illusions.

And he beholds the moon; like a rounded fragment of ice filled with motionless light.

I don't believe that happiness is possible, but I think tranquility is.

To be stupid, selfish, and have good health are three requirements for happiness, though if stupidity is lacking, all is lost.

Madame Aubain's servant Felicite was the envy of the ladies of Pont-l'Eveque for half a century.