Conversationis like the table of contents of a dull book.... All the greatest subjects of human thought are proudly displayedin it. Listen to it for three minutes, and you ask yourself which is more striking, the emphasis of the speaker or his shocking ignorance.

All religions are founded on the fear of the many and the cleverness of the few.

In our calling, we have to choose; we must make our fortune either in this world or in the next, there is no middle way.

Love born in the brain is more spirited, doubtless, than true love, but it has only flashes of enthusiasm; it knows itself too well, it criticizes itself incessantly; so far from banishing thought, it is itself reared only upon a structure of thought.

If you want to be witty, work on your character and say what you think on every occasion.

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

This is the curse of our age, even the strangest aberrations are no cure for boredom.