“Nature never said to me: Do not be poor; still less did she say: Be rich; her cry to me was always: Be independent.”
“Society is composed of two great classes, those that have more dinners than appetite, and those who have more appetite than dinners.”
“A man is not necessarily intelligent because he has plenty of ideas, any more than he is a good general because he has plenty of soldiers.”
“The person of intellect is lost unless they unite with energy of character. When we have the lantern of Diogenese we must also have his staff.”
“An author is often obscure to the reader because they proceed from the thought to expression than like the reader from the expression to the thought.”
“It is commonly supposed that the art of pleasing is a wonderful aid in the pursuit of fortune; but the art of being bored is infinitely more successful.”
“Scandal is an importunate wasp, against which we must make no movement unless we are quite sure that we can kill it; otherwise it will return to the attack more furious than ever.”
“The person is always happy who is in the presence of something they cannot know in full. A person as advanced far in the study of morals who has mastered the difference between pride and vanity.”
“When a man and a woman have an overwhelming passion for each other, it seems to me, in spite of such obstacles dividing them as parents or husband, that they belong to each other in the name of Nature, and are lovers by Divine right, in spite of human convention or the laws.”
“Sometimes apparent resemblance of character will bring two men together and for a certain time unite them. But their mistake gradually becomes evident, and they are astonished to find themselves not only far apart, but even repelled, in some sort, at all their points of contact.”
“Education must have two foundations --morality as a support for virtue, prudence as a defense for self against the vices of others. By letting the balance incline to the side of morality, you only make dupes or martyrs; by letting it incline to the other, you make calculating egoists.”