When intimacy followed love in Italy there were no longer any vain pretensions between two lovers.

I see but one rule: to be clear.

In love, unlike most other passions, the recollection of what you have had and lost is always better than what you can hope for in the future.

Every great action is extreme when it is undertaken. Only after it has been accomplished does it seem possible to those creatures of more common stuff.

Life is very short, and it ought not to be spent crawling at the feet of miserable scoundrels.

I love her beauty, but I fear her mind.

Love has always been the most important business in my life; I should say the only one.