Man's condition is horrible because, no matter what form his happiness may take, it arises from some species of ignorance.

But reason always cuts a poor figure beside sentiment; the one being essentially restricted, like everything that is positive, while the other is infinite.

Vulgar souls look hastily and superficially at the sea and accuse it of monotony; other more privileged beings could spend a lifetime admiring it and discovering new and changing phenomena that delight them. So it is with love.

When one has no particular talent for anything, one takes to the pen.

Women? In order to realize how far these charming creatures we idealize can carry their cruelty, we must see them among themselves!

Marriageable girls as well as mothers understand the terms and perils of the lottery called wedlock. That is why women weep at a wedding and men smile.

A man's own vanity is a swindler that never lacks for a dupe.