However gross a man may be, the minute he expresses a strong and genuine affection, some inner secretion alters his features, animates his gestures, and colors his voice. The stupidest man will often, under the stress of passion, achieve heights of eloquence, in thought if not in language, and seem to move in some luminous sphere. Goriot's voice and gesture had at this moment the power of communication that characterizes the great actor. Are not our finer feelings the poems of the human will?

The motto of chivalry is also the motto of wisdom; to serve all, but love only one.

My writing table has seen all my wretchedness, knows all my plans, has overheard all my thoughts.

In a husband, there is only a man; in a married woman, there is a man, a father, a mother and a woman.

No man should marry until he has studied anatomy and dissected at least one woman.

The more one judges, the less one loves.

Necessity is the spur of genius.