Repentance is but a denying of our will, and an opposition of our fantasies.

The continuous work of our life is to build death.

Wine is the benevolent god, who gives back gaiety to men and restores youth to the old.

There is no more expensive thing than a free gift.

Indeed, there is no such thing as an altogether ugly woman — or altogether beautiful.

Long life, and short, are by death made all one; for there is no long, nor short, to things that are no more.

Traveling through the world produces a marvelous clarity in the judgment of men. We are all of us confined and enclosed within ourselves, and see no farther than the end of our nose. This great world is a mirror where we must see ourselves in order to know ourselves. There are so many different tempers, so many different points of view, judgments, opinions, laws and customs to teach us to judge wisely on our own, and to teach our judgment to recognize its imperfection and natural weakness.