The life of famous men was more glorious in antiquity; the life of obscure men is happier with the moderns.

... 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.

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.

Men err from selfishness; women because they are weak.

[On Italian:] One may almost call it a language that talks of itself, and always seems more witty than its speakers.

Exile: A tomb in which you can get mail.

Thought can never be compared with action, but when it awakens in us the image of truth.