His passions make man live, his wisdom merely makes him last.

The poor are the blacks of Europe.

To possess a good cognomen is a long way on the road of success in life.

The philosopher who would fain extinguish his passions resembles the chemist who would like to let his furnace go out.

Wrinkles and ill-nature together made a woman hideous.

All passions exaggerate; and they are passions only because they do exaggerate.

Society ... is nothing more than the war of a thousand petty opposed interests, an eternal strife of all the vanities, which, turn in turn wounded and humiliated one by the other, intercross, come into collision, and on the morrow expiate the triumph of the eve in the bitterness of defeat. To live alone, to remain unjostled in this miserable struggle, where for a moment one draws the eyes of the spectators, to be crushed a moment later -- this is what is called being a nonentity, having no existence. Poor humanity!