It is commonly supposed that the art of pleasing is a wonderful aid in the pursuit of fortune; but the art of being bored is infinitely more successful.

The only thing that stops God from sending another flood is that the first one was useless.

Pleasure may come from illusion, but happiness can come only of reality.

Society is composed of two great classes, those that have more dinners than appetite, and those who have more appetite than dinners.

Spero Speroni explains admirably how an author who writes very clearly for himself is often obscure to his readers. "It is," he says, "because the author proceeds from the thought to the expression, and the reader from the expression to the thought.

Intelligent people make many mistakes because they cannot believe the world is really as foolish as it is.

We take our colors, chameleon-like, from each other.