What a profound significance small things assume when the woman we love conceals them from us.

There is not a woman in the world the possession of whom is as precious as that of the truths which she reveals to us by causing us to suffer.

Indeed, among the lesser auxiliaries to success in love, an absence, the declining of an invitation to dinner, an unintentional, unconscious harshness are of more service than all the cosmetics and fine clothes in the world.

If only for the sake of elegance, I try to remain morally pure.

We do not succeed in changing things according to our desire, but gradually our desire changes.

People who, not being in love themselves, feel that a clever man should only be unhappy about a person who is worth his while; which is rather like being astonished that anyone should condescend to die of cholera at the bidding of so insignificant a creature as the comma bacillus.

I had come in time to learn that it was a mistake to smile a friendly smile when somebody made a fool of me.