Prayer is the life of the soul.

The more I see of man, the more I like dogs.

New doctrines ever displease the old. They like to fancy that the world has been losing wisdom, instead of gaining it, since they were young.

[Moralistic] novels are at the same disadvantage as teachers: children never believe them, because they make everything that happens relate to the lesson at hand.

Politeness is the art of choosing among your thoughts.

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.

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.