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

Nature, who permits no two leaves to be exactly alike, has given a still greater diversity to human minds. Imitation, then, is a double murder; for it deprives both copy and original of their primitive existence.

Politeness is the art of choosing among your thoughts.

Of all human sentiments, enthusiasm creates the most happiness; it is the only sentiment in fact which gives real happiness, the only sentiment which can help us to bear our human destiny in any situation in which we may find ourselves.

There is no reality on this earth except religion and the power of love; all the rest is even more fugitive than life itself.

Life, for me, is living among my friends.

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.