Every life is a profession of faith, and exercises an inevitable and silent influence.

Uncertainty is the refuge of hope.

Man never knows what he wants; he aspires to penetrate mysteries and as soon as he has, wants to re-establish them. Ignorance irritates him and knowledge cloys.

Men of genius supply the substance of history, while the mass of men are but the critical filter, the limiting, slackening, passive force needed for the modification of ideas supplied by genius.

In every loving woman there is a priestess of the past - a pious guardian of some affection, of which the object has disappeared.

Life alone can rekindle life.

Order is man's greatest need, and his true well-being.