One should make one's life a mosaic. Let the general design be good, the colors lively, and the materials diversified.

there are no nationalities in heaven.

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

that sunlight of the dead which is called literature.

collections are amusing only in the making; afterwards they are like sporting prints without the sport. The sons of collectors inherit only the corpse of their fathers' satisfied passion.

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

... love always betrays its intentions.