God gave us the gift of life; it is up to us to give ourselves the gift of living well.

Our wretched species is so made that those who walk on the well-trodden path always throw stones at those who are showing a new road.

Nothing would be more tiresome than eating and drinking if God had not made them a pleasure as well as a necessity.

It is not enough to conquer; one must learn to seduce.

Tears are the silent language of grief.

It would be easier to subjugate the entire universe through force than the minds of a single village.

The little may contrast with the great, in painting, but cannot be said to be contrary to it. Oppositions of colors contrast; but there are also colors contrary to each other, that is, which produce an ill effect because they shock the eye when brought very near it.