No hawk swooping down upon his prey, no stag improvising new detours by which to trick the huntsman, no dog scenting game from afar is comparable in speed to the celerity of a salesman when he gets wind a deal, to his skill in tripping up or forestalling a rival, and to the art with which he sniffs out and discovers a possible sale.

Wisdom is that apprehension of heavenly things to which the spirit rises through love.

Sects differ more in name than tenets.

Today nobility is gone: there is only a peerage.

A letter is a soul, so faithful an echo of the speaking voice that to the sensitive it is among the richest treasures of love.

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

Conventions are often more cruel than the law.