It is beyond a doubt that during the sixteenth century, and the years immediately preceding and following it, poisoning had been brought to a pitch of perfection which remains unknown to modern chemistry, but which is indisputably proved by history. Italy, the cradle of modern science, was at that time, the inventor and mistress of these secrets, many of which are lost.

Our most natural feelings are those we are loath to confess, and fatuity is among them.

Events are never absolute, their outcome depends entirely upon the individual.

Envy is the most stupid of vices, for there is no single advantage to be gained from it.

Those who spend too fast never grow rich.

To those who have exhausted politics, nothing remains but abstract thought.

From the manner in which a woman draws her thread at every stitch of her needlework, any other woman can surmise her thoughts.