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.

At fifteen, neither beauty nor talent exist: a woman is all promise.

How did you get back?' asked Vautrin. 'I walked,' replied Eugene. 'I wouldn't like half-pleasures, myself,' observed the tempter. 'I'd want to go there in my own carriage, have my own box, and come back in comfort. All or nothing, that's my motto.' 'And a very good one,' said Madame Vauquer.

The man who enters his wife's dressing room is either a philosopher or a fool.

Great love affairs start with Champagne and end with tisane.

To speak of love is to make love.

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