inventiveness is childish, practice sublime.

Life, for me, is living among my friends.

A voyage without companionship, that is to say without conversation, is one of the saddest pleasures of life.

Men err from selfishness; women because they are weak.

Conversation as talent exists only in France. In other countries, conversation provides politeness, discussion, and friendship; in France, it is an art for which imagination and soul are certainly very welcome, but which can also provide its own secret remedies to compensate you for the absence of either or both, if you so desire.

We always cut our poetical theories to suit our talent.

There are only two distinct classes of people on this earth, those who espouse enthusiasm and those who despise it.