The world, dear Agnes, is a strange affair.

Doubts are more cruel than the worst of truths.

They [zealots] would have everybody be as blind as themselves: to them, to be clear-sighted is libertinism.

Beauty without intelligence is like a hook without bait.

I feed on good soup, not beautiful language.

It may cost me twenty thousand francs; but for twenty thousand francs, I will have the right to rail against the iniquity of humanity, and to devote to it my eternal hatred.

The world, dear Agnes, is a strange affair.