The gods are strange. It is not our vices only they make instruments to scourge us. They bring us to ruin through what in us is good, gentle, humane, loving.

Cultivated leisure is the aim of man.

I prefer women with a past. They're always so damned amusing to talk to.

Man is a rational animal who always loses his temper when he is called upon to act in accordance with the dictates of reason.

The birds that were singing in the dew-drenched garden seemed to be telling the flowers about her.

The aim of the liar is simply to charm, to delight, to give pleasure. He is the very basis of civilized society.

Nothing is so aggravating than calmness.