At the beginning and at the end of love, the two lovers are embarrassed to find themselves alone.

The best thing next to wit is a consciousness that it is not in us; without wit, a man might then know how to behave himself, so as not to appear to be a fool or a coxcomb.

The majority of women have no principles of their own; they are guided by the heart, and depend for their own conduct, upon that of the men they love.

The pleasure of criticizing takes away from us the pleasure of being moved by some very fine things.

A tall, well-built man with a deep chest and broad shoulders can carry a heavy burden with ease and unconcern, and still keep one hand free; a dwarf would be crushed by half that weight. Thus lofty posts make great men greater still, and small men much smaller.

Widows, like ripe fruit, drop easily from their perch.

There are certain things in which mediocrity is intolerable: poetry, music, painting, public eloquence. What torture it is to hear a frigid speech being pompously declaimed, or second-rate verse spoken with all a bad poet's bombast!