A woman questions the man who loves exactly as a judge questions a criminal. This being so, a flash of the eye, a mere word, an inflection of the voice or a moment's hesitation suffice to expose the fact, betrayal or crime he is attempting to conceal.

In all lands, sailors form a race apart. They profess a congenital contempt for landlubbers. As for the tradesman, he understands nothing of sailors nor cares a fig about them. He is content to rob them if he can.

When Religion and Royalty are swept away, the people will attack the great, and after the great, they will fall upon the rich.

The most virtuous women have within them something that is never chaste.

The passion of love is essentially selfish, while motherhood widens the circle of our feelings.

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

Marriage is a fierce battle before which the two partners ask heaven for its blessing, because loving each other is the most audacious of enterprises; the battle is not slow to start, and victory, that is to say freedom, goes to the cleverest.