As a rule, only the poor are generous.

It would be curious to know what leads a man to become a stationer rather than a baker, when he is no longer compelled, as among the Egyptians, to succeed to his father's craft.

Let us leave the cure of public evils to those quacks, the statesmen.

Ideas devour the ages as men are devoured by their passions. When man is cured, human nature will cure itself perhaps.

A woman in love has full intelligence of her power; the more virtuous she is, the more effective her coquetry.

No woman dares to refuse love without a motive, for nothing is more natural than to yield to love.

Events are never absolute, their outcome depends entirely upon the individual. Misfortune is a stepping stone for a genius, a piscina for a Christian, a treasure for a man of parts, and an abyss for a weakling.