A man without nobility cannot have kindliness; he can only have good nature.

Whatever evil a man may think of women, there is no woman but thinks more.

The new friends whom we make after attaining a certain age and by whom we would fain replace those whom we have lost, are to our old friends what glass eyes, false teeth and wooden legs are to real eyes, natrual teeth and legs of flesh and bone.

Preoccupation with money is the great test of small natures, but only a small test of great ones.

It is inconceivable how much wit it requires to avoid being ridiculous.

Were a man to consult only his reason, who would marry? For myself, I wouldn't marry, for fear of having a son who resembled me.

It is when their age of passions is past that great men produce their masterpieces, just as it is after volcanic eruptions that the soil is most fertile.