The revolting details of childbirth had been hidden from me with such care that I was as surprised as I was horrified, and I cannot help thinking that the vows most women are made to take are very foolhardy. I doubt whether they would willingly go to the altar to swear that they will allow themselves to be broken on the wheel every nine months.

It were no virtue to bear calamities if we did not feel them.

One of the first observations to make in conversation is the state, or the character, and the education of the person to whom we speak.

The more heart, the more sorrow.

Elegance is exquisite polish.

The quarrels of lovers are like summer storms. Everything is more beautiful when they have passed.

For the honest people, relations increase with the years. For the vicious, inconveniences increase. Inconstancy is the defect of vice; the influence of habit is one of the qualities of virtue.