What fun it would be to be poor, as long as one was excessively poor! Anything in excess is most exhilarating

Believe me; all evil comes from the old. They grow fat on ideas and young men die of them.

What you get free costs too much.

Everything ends this way in France — everything. Weddings, christenings, duels, burials, swindlings, diplomatic affairs — everything is a pretext for a good dinner.

Every man thinks God is on his side. The rich and powerful know he is.

To say yes, you have to sweat and roll up your sleeves and plunge both hands into life up to the elbows. It is easy to say no, even if saying no means death.

Some men like to make a little garden out of life and walk down a path