In France we can cauterize wounds but we do not yet know any remedy for the injuries inflicted by a bon mot.

I prefer thought to action, an idea to a transaction, contemplation to activity.

How natural it is to destroy what we cannot possess, to deny what we do not understand, and to insult what we envy!

The fame of surgeons resembles the fame of actors, who live only during their lifetime and whose talent is no longer appreciable once they have disappeared.

Misfortune, no less than happiness, inspires us to dream.

Intuition, like the rays of the sun, acts only in an inflexibly straight line; it can guess right only on condition of never diverting its gaze; the freaks of chance disturb it.

We are scarcely apt to berate the source of enjoyment.