Nothing is so discreet as a young face, for nothing is less mobile; it has the serenity, the surface smoothness, and the freshnessof a lake. There is no character in women's faces before the age of thirty.

Events are never absolute, their outcome depends entirely upon the individual. Misfortune is a stepping stone for a genius, a piscina for a Christian, a treasure for a man of parts, and an abyss for a weakling.

When attempted self-destruction does not cure a man of life, it cures him of voluntary death.

All men can bear a familiar, definite misfortune better than the cruel alternations of a fate which, from one moment to another, brings excessive joy or sorrow.

Evasion is unworthy of us, and is always the intimate of equivocation.

Love is the only way on which even the dim-witted reaches certain heights.

Yes, I can understand that a man might go to a gambling table when he sees that all that lies between him and death is his last crown.