Passions are less mischievous than boredom, for passions tend to diminish and boredom increase.

I did not want to be taken for a fool-the typical French reason for performing the worst of deeds without remorse.

Happy men are grave. They carry their happiness cautiously, as they would a glass filled to the brim which the slightest movement could cause to spill over, or break.

Yet, whether to the glory or to the shame of human nature, in what we call pleasure (with an excess of scorn, perhaps) there are abysses as deep as those of love.

Next to the wound, what women make best is the bandage.

Passions are less mischievous than boredom, for passions tend to diminish and boredom increase.

The crimes of extreme civilization are certainly more atrocious than those of extreme barbarism.