The desire of the man is for the woman, but the desire of the woman is for the desire of the man.

Liberty is the only idea which circulates with the human blood, in all ages, in all countries, and in all literature - liberty that is, and what cannot be separated from liberty, a love of country.

I do not want an echo of myself from my children. I do not want to hear from them merely the reverberation of my own voice.

Between God and love, I recognize no mediator but my conscience.

Goethe has made a remark upon the perfectability of the human mind, which is full of sagacity: It is always advancing, but in a spiral line.

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

Divine Wisdom, intending to detain us some time on earth, has done well to cover with a veil the prospect of the life to come; for if our sight could clearly distinguish the opposite bank, who would remain on this tempestuous coast of time?