We leave unmolested those who set the fire to the house, and prosecute those who sound the alarm.

People are governed by the head; a kind heart is of little value in chess.

It is said of a lonely man that he does not appreciate the life of society. This is like saying he hates hiking because he dislikes walking in thick forest on a dark night.

The great always sell their society to the vanity of the little.

Many men and women enjoy popular esteem, not because they are known, but because they are not known.

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.

All passions are exaggerated, otherwise they would not be passions.