I have come, Sire, to complain of one of your subjects who has been so audacious as to kick me in the belly.

it is the nature of human beings, and especially of the mediocre ones, to wish to change everything. They desire it all the more because they know popularity will accrue rather to those who disturb than to those who maintain order.

I have come, Sire, to complain of one of your subjects who has been so audacious as to kick me in the belly.

I was a queen, and you took away my crown; a wife, and you killed my husband; a mother, and you deprived me of my children. My blood alone remains: take it, but do not make me suffer long.

I trust we shall never be reduced to the painful extremity of seeking the aid of Mirabeau.

I wasn’t raised, I was built.

one's enjoyment is doubled when one can share it with a friend - and where can one find a more affectionate, a more intimate friend than in one's own family?