It is better to be deceived by one's friends than to deceive them.

People are always talking about originality; but what do they mean? As soon as we are born, the world begins to work upon us; and this goes on to the end. And after all, what can we call our own, except energy, strength, and will? If I could give an account of all that I owe to great predecessors and contemporaries, there would be but a small balance in my favor.

As our inclinations, so our opinions.

To make a young couple love each other, it is only necessary to oppose and separate them.

The true, prescriptive artist strives after artistic truth; the lawless artist, following blind instinct, after an appearance of naturalness. The one leads to the highest peaks of art, the other to its lowest depths.

No one would talk much in society if they knew how often they misunderstood others.

All perishable is but an allegory.