A man wastes his time going to hear some of our eloquent modern preachers; they may change his opinions, but never his conduct.

According to man's environment, society has made as many different types of men as there are varieties in zoology. The differences between a soldier, a workman, a statesman, a tradesman, a sailor, a poet, a pauper and a priest, are more difficult to seize, but quite considerable as the differences between a wolf, a lion, an ass, a crow, a sea-calf, a sheep, and so on.

Liberty begets anarchy, anarchy leads to despotism, and despotism brings about liberty once again. Millions of human beings have perished without being able to make any of these systems triumph.

Jealousy, an eminently credulous and suspicious passion, allows fancy the greatest possible play. But it does not bestow wit, it banishes all sense.

In painting, you can suddenly come upon something so huge that no-one can deal with it.

Those who spend too fast never grow rich.

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