We call that person who has lost his father, an orphan; and a widower that man who has lost his wife. But that man who has known the immense unhappiness of losing a friend, by what name do we call him? Here every language is silent and holds its peace in impotence.

It is a very rare thing for a man of talent to succeed by his talent.

The orator is the mouth (os) of a nation.

Experience comprises illusions lost, rather than wisdom gained.

That which we know is but little; that which we have a presentiment of is immense; it is in this direction that the poet outruns the learned man.

Literature was formerly an art and finance a trade; today it is the reverse.

Solitude vivifies, isolation kills.