How natural it is to destroy what we cannot possess, to deny what we do not understand, and to insult what we envy!

Remorse is impotent; it will repeat its faults. Repentance only is a true force; it puts an end to everything.

It's catastrophies which turn wise and strong people into philosophers.

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

Virtue, perhaps, is nothing more than politeness of soul.

If we all said to people's faces what we say behind one another's backs, society would be impossible.

Virtue is always too much of a piece and too ignorant of those shades of feeling and of temperament that enable us to squint when we are placed in a false position.