Who has told you that the fruit belies the flower? For the fruit you have not tasted, and the flower you know but by report.

In a certain reign there was a lady not of the first rank whom the emperor loved more than any of the others. The grand ladies with high ambitions thought her a presumptuous upstart, and lesser ladies were still more resentful. Everything she did offended someone.

There is a tendency among men as well as women ... so soon as they have acquired a little knowledge of some kind, to want to display it to the best advantage.

How strange a thing is the heart of man!

Real things in the darkness seem no realer than dreams.

It is indeed in many ways more comfortable to belong to that section of society whose action are not publicly canvassed and discussed

It is useless to talk with those who do not understand one and troublesome to talk with those who criticize from a feeling of superiority. Especially one-sided persons are troublesome. Few are accomplished in many arts and most cling narrowly to their own opinion.