The chief cause of our misery is less the violence of our passions than the feebleness of our virtues.

Since unhappiness excites interest, many, in order to render themselves interesting, feign unhappiness.

Like those statues which must be made larger than "nature" in order that, viewed from below, or from a distance, they may appear to be of the "natural" size, certain truths must be "strained" in order that the public may form a just idea of them.

Our experience is composed rather of illusions lost than of wisdom acquired.

What is slander? A verdict of "guilty" pronounced in the absence of the accused, with closed doors, without defence or appeal, by an interested and prejudiced judge.

As long as we love, we lend to the beloved object qualities of mind and heart which we deprive him of when the day of misunderstanding arrives.

When orators and auditors have the same prejudices, those prejudices run a great risk of being made to stand for incontestable truths.