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.

When women oppose themselves to the projects and ambition of men, they excite their lively resentment; if in their youth they meddle with political intrigues, their modesty must suffer.

It is obvious that the most despotic forms of social organization would be suitable for inert men who are satisfied with the situation fate has placed them in, and that the most abstract form of democratic theory would be practicable among sages guided only by their reason. The only problem is to what degree it is possible to excite or to contain the passions without endangering public happiness.

Kindness and generosity ... form the true morality of human actions.

O memory, thou bitter sweet,--both a joy and a scourge!

Life resembles Gobelin tapestry; you do not see the canvass on the right side; but when you turn it, the threads are visible.

The more we know the better we forgive. Whoever feels deeply, feels for all who live.