Nothing which does not transport is poetry. The lyre is a winged instrument.

Man is born with the faculty of speech. Who gives it to him? He who gives the bird its song.

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

We always believe God is like ourselves, the indulgent think him indulgent and the stern, terrible.

We are all of us more or less echoes, repeating involuntarily the virtues, the defects, the movements, and the characters of those among whom we live.

Which is more misshapen,--religion without virtue, or virtue without religion?

The talkative man speaks from his mouth, the eloquent man speaks from his heart.