The success of any man with any woman is apt to displease even his best friends.

In women's destiny everything goes downhill except for thought, whose immortal nature it is to keep constantly rising.

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.

Who understands much forgives much. To understand everything makes us very forgiving.

The voice of conscience is so delicate that it is easy to stifle it; but it is also so clear that it is impossible to mistake it.

The study of history, it seems to me, leads to the conviction that all important events tend toward the same end - the civilization of mankind.

What matters in a character is not whether one holds this or that opinion: what matters is how proudly one upholds it.