Most benefactors are like unskillful generals who take the city and leave the citadel intact.

Calumny is like the wasp which worries you, and which it is not best to try to get rid of unless you are sure of slaying it; for otherwise it returns to the charge more furious than ever.

Your intelligence often bears the same relation to your heart as the library of a chateau does to its owner.

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

Contemplation often makes life miserable. We should act more, think less, and stop watching ourselves live.

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 must be admitted that there are some parts of the soul which we must entirely paralyse before we can live happily in this world.