What moralists describe as the mysteries of the human heart are solely the deceiving thoughts, the spontaneous impulses of self-regard. The sudden changes in character, about which so much has been said, are instinctive calculations for the furtherance of our own pleasures. Seeing himself now in his fine clothes, his new gloves and shoes, Eugène de Rastignac forgot his noble resolve. Youth, when it swerves toward wrong, dares not look in the mirror of conscience; maturity has already seen itself there. That is the whole difference between the two phases of life.

Physically, a man is a man for a much longer time than a woman is a woman.

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

Society bristles with enigmas which look hard to solve. It is a perfect maze of intrigue.

Nothing is so discreet as a young face, for nothing is less mobile; it has the serenity, the surface smoothness, and the freshnessof a lake. There is no character in women's faces before the age of thirty.

Whereas scoundrels become reconciled after knifing one another, lovers break up irrevocably over a mere glance or word.

Passion is born deaf and dumb.