Whoever is not a misanthrope at forty can never have loved mankind.

I have three kinds of friends: those who love me, those who pay no attention to me, and those who detest me.

I only study the things I like; I apply my mind only to matters that interest me. They'll be useful-or useless-to me or to others in due course, I'll be given-or not given-the opportunity of benefiting from what I've learned. In any case, I'll have enjoyed the inestimable advantage of doing things I like doing and following my own inclinations.

Women see faults much more readily in each other than they can discover perfections.

Scandal is an importunate wasp, against which we must make no movement unless we are quite sure that we can kill it; otherwise it will return to the attack more furious than ever.

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

One can be certain that every generally held idea, every received notion, will be idiocy because it has been able to appeal to the majority