If you think of paying court to the men in power, your eternal ruin is assured.

When a man leaves his mistress, he runs the risk of being betrayed two or three times daily.

There is no such thing as "natural law": this expression is nothing but old nonsense... Prior to laws, what is natural is only the strength of the lion, or the need of the creature suffering from hunger or cold, in short, need.

A wise woman never yields by appointment. It should always be an unforeseen happiness.

The first characteristic of Rossini's music is speed - a speed which removes from the soul all the sombre emotions that are so powerfully evoked within us by the slow strains in Mozart. I find also in Rossini a cool freshness, which, measure by measure, makes us smile with delight.

For the future, I shall rely only upon those elements of my character which I have tested. Who would ever have said that I should find pleasure in shedding tears? That I should love the man who proves to me that I am nothing more than a fool?

If you think of paying court to the men in power, your eternal ruin is assured.