To live a life which is a perpetual falsehood is to suffer unknown tortures.

The soul helps the body, and at certain moments raises it. It is the only bird that sustains its cage.

Every good quality runs into a defect; economy borders on avarice, the generous are not far from the prodigal, the brave man is close to the bully; he who is very pious is slightly sanctimonious; there are just as many vices to virtue as there are holes in the mantle of Diogenes.

No one can keep a secret better than a child.

As for the bishop, the sight of the guillotine was a great shock to him, from which he recovered only slowly.

When grace combines with wrinkles, it is admirable. There is an indescribable light of dawn about intensely happy old age. . . . The young person is handsome, but the old, superb.

Knowledge is a weight added to conscience.