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.

When a man and a woman have an overwhelming passion for each other, it seems to me, in spite of such obstacles dividing them as parents or husband, that they belong to each other in the name of Nature, and are lovers by Divine right, in spite of human convention or the laws.

The new friends whom we make after attaining a certain age and by whom we would fain replace those whom we have lost, are to our old friends what glass eyes, false teeth and wooden legs are to real eyes, natrual teeth and legs of flesh and bone.

Change of fashion is the tax levied by the industry of the poor on the vanity of the rich.

If a woman were about to proceed to her execution, she would demand a little time to perfect her toilet.

Education must have two foundations --morality as a support for virtue, prudence as a defense for self against the vices of others. By letting the balance incline to the side of morality, you only make dupes or martyrs; by letting it incline to the other, you make calculating egoists.

Society would be a charming affair if we were only interested in one another.