Cultivated people should be superior to any consideration so sordid as a mercenary interest.
To create a public scandal is what's wicked; to sin in private is not a sin.
True, Heaven prohibits certain pleasures; but one can generally negotiate a compromise.
Perfect reason flees all extremity, and leads one to be wise with sobriety.
It is not only for what we do that we are held responsible, but also for what we do not do.
There is no fate more distressing for an artist than to have to show himself off before fools, to see his work exposed to the criticism of the vulgar and ignorant.