Fiction is a potent agent for good--in the hands of the good.

A woman must be truly refined to incite chivalry in the heart of a man.

Order in a house ought to be like the machinery in opera, whose effect produces great pleasure, but whose ends must be hid.

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.

Remarkable places are like the summits of rocks; eagles and reptiles only can get there.

The most subtle flattery that a woman can receive is by actions, not by words.

When death gives us a long lease of life, it takes as hostages all those whom we have loved.