A life of action and danger moderates the dread of death.

The assumption of merit is easier, less embarrassing, and more effectual than the actual attainment of it.

If mankind had wished for what is right, they might have had it long ago.

The Princess Borghese, Bonaparte's sister, who was no saint, sat to Canova as a reclining Venus, and being asked if she did not feel a little uncomfortable, replied, "No. There was a fire in the room."

I am proud up to the point of equality; everything above or below that appears to me arrant impertinence or abject meanness.

Dandyism is a variety of genius.

Everything is in motion. Everything flows. Everything is vibrating.