Justice has its anger, my lord Bishop, and the wrath of justice is an element of progress. Whatever else may be said of it, the French Revolution was the greatest step forward by mankind since the coming of Christ. It was unfinished, I agree, but still it was sublime. It released the untapped springs of society; it softened hearts, appeased, tranquilized, enlightened, and set flowing through the world the tides of civilization. It was good. The French Revolution was the anointing of humanity.

The man who fights against his own country is never a hero.

I am in the night. There is a being who has gone away and carried the heavens with her. Oh! to be laid side by side in the same tomb, hand clasped in hand, and from time to time, in the darkness, to caress a finger gently, that would suffice for my eternity.

The hatred of luxury is not an intelligent hatred. It implies a hatred of arts.

Our mind is enriched by what we receive, our heart by what we give.

She worked in order to live, and presently fell in love, also in order to live, for the heart, too, has its hunger.

Virtue has a veil, vice a mask.