Now literary success can only be won in solitude by persevering labor.

Talent is a flame, but genius is a fire.

There is something great and terrible about suicide.

Nothing is a greater impediment to being on good terms with others than being ill at ease with yourself.

Conscience is a cudgel which all men pick up in order to thwack their neighbors instead of applying it to their own shoulders.

It is easier for a woman to be a good wife than a good mother. A widow has two duties with contrary obligations: she is a mother and she must exercise paternal authority. Few woman are strong enough to understand and to play this role.

Lofty souls are always inclined to make a virtue of misfortune.