women have no existence except in love; the history of their life begins and ends with love!

The memories which come to us through music are not accompanied by any regrets; for a moment music gives us back the pleasures it retraces, and we feel them again rather than recollect them.

One must, so long as there is any life left, back up the character of one's life.

inventiveness is childish, practice sublime.

I must keep on rowing, not until I reach port but until I reach my grave.

... in the history of the human mind there has never been a useful thought or a profound truth that has not found its century and admirers.

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.