I have seen people rude by being over-polite.

Beauty is the true prerogative of women, and so peculiarly their own, that our sex, though naturally requiring another sort of feature, is never in its lustre but when puerile and beardless, confused and mixed with theirs.

It is easier to sacrifice great than little things.

How many things we held yesterday as articles of faith which today we tell as fables.

Great authors, when they write about causes, adduce not only those they think are true but also those they do not believe in, provided they have some originality and beauty. They speak truly and usefully enough if they speak ingeniously.

The public weal requires that men should betray, and lie, and massacre.

A hair shirt does not always render those chaste who wear it.