It is a monstrous thing that I will say, but I will say it all the same: I find in many things more restraint and order in my morals than in my opinions, and my lust less depraved than my reason.

Marriage is like a cage; one sees the birds outside desperate to get in, and those inside equally desperate to get out.

The finest souls are those that have the most variety and suppleness.

Human wisdom makes as ill use of her talent when she exercises it in rescinding from the number and sweetness of those pleasures that are naturally our due, as she employs it favorably and well in artificially disguising and tricking out the ills of life to alleviate the sense of them.

No man is a hero to his own valet.

If my mind could gain a firm footing, I would not make essays, I would make decisions; but it is always in apprenticeship and on trial.

The finest lives in my opinion are the common model, without miracle and without extravagance.