The mind's pleasures are made to calm the tempests of the heart.

The sight of such a monument is like continual and stationary music, which one hears for one's good as one approaches it.

Whatever efforts one may make, one must revert to the realization that religion is the real basis of morality; religion is the real and perceptible purpose within us, which alone, can turn aside our attention from things. ... The science of morality can no more teach human beings to be honest, in all the magnificence of this word, than geometry can teach one how to draw.

One must choose in life between boredom and suffering.

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.

a perfect piece of architecture kindles that aimless reverie, which bears the soul we know not whither.

[On Napoleon:] One has the impression of an imperious wind blowing about one's ears when one is near that man.