those two wholesome defects of the French people, malice and curiosity, both of which are essential to its greatness.

marriage was a calamity, but it was not an occupation.

The birth of love is always accompanied by the idea of solitude. A single being appears, and the rest of the world grows empty.

The affairs of the royal house form a subject of conversation for those who, as a rule, would have no conversation.

history ... a sort of immortality turned upside down. Her life stretched backwards through ten centuries.

Children never grow tired; their likes and dislikes are constant; let them laugh at something once and they laugh always; do what you will, they are sure to say, 'Do it again!

that sunlight of the dead which is called literature.