The Enlightenment needs more shadow; the Romantic Movement less.

Boredom, not the will, is the mother of change. Necessity is the father.

Never trust the judgment of an enthusiastic man; never trust the promises of a lazy one.

Matter-of-fact descriptions make the improbable seem real.

With age, comfort becomes more seductive than beauty.

Old among the young, poor among the rich, I adopt an air of indefinable superiority.

Beauty compels us; reason merely cajoles.