Thought is a kind of opium; it can intoxicate us, while still broad awake; it can make transparent the mountains and everything that exists.

Cleverness is serviceable for everything, sufficient for nothing.

Every man is a priest, even involuntarily; his conduct is an unspoken sermon, which is forever preaching to others.

Self-interest is an inexhaustible source of convenient illusions. The number of beings who wish to see truly is extraordinarily small.

Every situation is an equilibrium of forces; every life is a struggle between opposing forces working within the limits of a certain equilibrium

Woman is the salvation or the destruction of the family. She carries its destiny in the folds of her mantle.

To feel keenly the poetry of a morning's roses, one has to have just escaped from the claws of this vulture which we call sickness.