Great ladies are no more spiteful than the average rich woman; but one acquires in their society a greater susceptibility, and feels more profoundly andmore irremediably, their unpleasant remarks.

I think being condemned to death is the only real distinction," said Mathilde. "It is the only thing which cannot be bought.

Beauty is nothing but a promise of happiness.

People are less self-conscious in the intimacy of family life and during the anxiety of a great sorrow. The dazzling varnish of anextreme politeness is then less in evidence, and the true qualities of the heart regain their proper proportions.

Nothing is so hideous as an obsolete fashion.

Any man who talks about his love affairs thereby proves he is ignorant of love and is moved only by vanity.

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.