The great secret of social alchemy is to profit best from each stage in our lives, to gather all its leaves in spring, all its flowers in summer, and all its fruits in autumn.

Materialism and spirituality are two pretty racquets with which charlatans in cap and gown make the same ball fly.

Many people claim coffee inspires them, but, as everybody knows, coffee only makes boring people even more boring.

There are moments in life when all we can bear is the sense that our friend is near us; our wounds would wince at the touch of consoling words, that would reveal the depths of our pain.

One exits with one's husband -- one lives with one's lover.

Nothing is as heady as the wine of misfortune.

A murderer is less loathsome to us than a spy. The murderer may have acted on a sudden mad impulse; he may be penitent and amend; but a spy is always a spy, night and day, in bed, at table, as he walks abroad; his vileness pervades every moment of his life