I have never known a greater miracle, or monster, than myself.

Age imprints more wrinkles a in the mind, than it does in the face, and souls are never, or very rarely seen, that in growing old do not smell sour and musty. Man moves all together, both towards his perfection and decay.

There is no man so good, who, were he to submit all his thoughts and actions to the laws, would not deserve hanging ten times in his life.

The daughter-in-law of Pythagoras said that a woman who goes to bed with a man ought to lay aside her modesty with her skirt, and put it on again with her petticoat

Things seem greater by imagination than they are in effect.

When all is summed up, a man never speaks of himself without loss; his accusations of himself are always believed; his praises never.

To distract myself from tiresome thoughts, I have only to resort to books; they easily draw my mind to themselves and away from other things.