The success of many books is due to the affinity between the mediocrity of the author's ideas and those of the public.

And so I leave this world, where the heart must either break or turn to lead (suicide note)

Most books today seemed to have been written overnight from books read the day before.

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

Wicked people sometimes perform good actions. I suppose they wish to see if this gives as great a feeling of pleasure as the virtuous claim for it.

Swallow a toad in the morning and you will encounter nothing more disgusting the rest of the day.

In love, everything is true, everything is false; it is the one subject on which one cannot express an absurdity.