Passion such as hers is all consent, asking little in return. I had merely to enter a room where she was to see her face take on that peaceful expression of one who is resting in bed. If I touched her, I had the impression that all the blood in her veins was turning to honey.

I think still that someone wiser than I might well have remained happy till his death.

There are books which one should not attempt before having passed the age of forty.

[On travel:] Who would be so besotted as to die without having made at least the round of this, his prison?

Our great mistake is to try to exact from each person virtues which he does not possess, and to neglect the cultivation of those which he has.

On the whole, however, it is only out of pride or gross ignorance, or cowardice, that we refuse to see in the present the lineaments of times to come.

Laws change more slowly than custom, and though dangerous when they fall behind the times are more dangerous still when they presume to anticipate custom.