Suffering predisposes the mind to devoutness; and most young girls, prompted by instinctive tenderness, lean towards mysticism, the obscurer side of religion.

A great love is a credit opened in favor of a power so consuming that the moment of bankruptcy must inevitably occur.

Nothing is as heady as the wine of misfortune.

By resorting to self-resignation, the unfortunate consummate.

A sacrament by virtue of which each imparts nothing but vexations to the other.

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.

Discouragement is of all ages: In youth it is a presentiment, in old age a remembrance.