If it were not for the government, we should have nothing to laugh at in France.

A man should swallow a toad every morning to be sure of not meeting with anything more revolting in the day ahead.

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.

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

Scandal is an importunate wasp, against which we must make no movement unless we are quite sure that we can kill it; otherwise it will return to the attack more furious than ever.

Nature never said to me: Do not be poor; still less did she say: Be rich; her cry to me was always: Be independent.