What a thing of fantasy a woman may become after dusk.

Like evil, sublimity is also contagious.

A country is strong which consists of wealthy families, every member of whom is interested in defending a common treasure; it is weak when composed of scattered individuals, to whom it matters little whether they obey seven or one, a Russian or a Corsican, so long as each keeps his own plot of land, blind in their wretched egotism, to the fact that the day is coming when this too will be torn from them.

In family life people almost always adjust themselves to misfortune. They make a bed of it and hope makes them accept that bed, however hard it is.

Our worst misfortunes never happen, and most miseries lie in anticipation.

Novelty is both delightful and deceptive.

There is nothing original; all is reflected light.