It is difficult to grow old gracefully.

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.

Mystery such as is given of God is beyond the power of human penetration, yet not in opposition to it.

Happiness is a wondrous commodity: the more you give, the more you have.

[Ridicule] laughs at all those who see the earnestness of life and who still believe in true feelings and in serious thought ... It soils the hope of youth. Only shameless vice is above its reach.

Prayer is the life of the soul.

Happy the land where the writers are sad, the merchants satisfied, the rich melancholic, and the populace content.