Passions are no more forgiving than human laws and they reason more justly. Are they not based on a conscience of their own, infallible as an instinct?

As a rule, only the poor are generous. Rich people can always find excellent reasons for not handing over twenty thousand francs to a relative.

The prodigality of millionaires is comparable only to their greed of gain. Let some whim or passion seize them and money is of no account. In fact these Croesuses find whims and passions harder to come by than gold.

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

While seeking out the dead, I see nothing but the living.

Love is perhaps no more than gratitude for pleasure.

Sects differ more in name than tenets.