A man is not necessarily intelligent because he has plenty of ideas, any more than he is a good general because he has plenty of soldiers.

Marriage, as practised by high society, is arranged indecency.

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.

What we love intensely or for a long time we are likely to bring within the citadel, and to assert as part of oneself.

Only the history of free peoples is worth our attention; the history of men under a despotism is merely a collection of anecdotes.

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

The poor are the blacks of Europe.