The last word should be the last word. It is like a finishing touch given to color; there is nothing more to add. But what precaution is needed in order not to put the last word first.

How many books there are whose reputation is made that would not obtain it were it now to make?

Only just the right quantum of wit should be put into a book; in conversation a little excess is allowable.

Never cut what you can untie.

God multiplies intelligence, which communicates itself, like fire, ad infinitum. Light a thousand torches at one touch, the flame remains always the same.

The beautiful invariably possesses a visible and a hidden beauty; and it is certain that no style is so beautiful as that which presents to the attentive reader a half-hidden meaning.

Sexes. One has the look of a wound, the other of something skinned.