The archer who overshoots his mark does no better than he who falls short of it.

Cowardice is the mother of cruelty.

I want to be seen here in my simple, natural, ordinary fashion, without straining or artifice; for it is myself that I portray... I am myself the matter of my book.

It is the rule of rules, and the general law of all laws, that every person should observe those of the place where he is.

I never rebel so much against France as not to regard Paris with a friendly eye; she has had my heart since my childhood... I love her tenderly, even to her warts and her spots. I am French only by this great city: the glory of France, and one of the noblest ornaments of the world.

The strangest, most generous, and proudest of all virtues is true courage.

The confidence in another man's virtue is no light evidence of a man's own, and God willingly favors such a confidence.