“Never find fault with the absent.”

On life’s vast ocean diversely we sail. Reasons the card, but passion the gale.

What then remains, but well our power to use, And keep good-humor still whate’er we lose? And trust me, dear, good-humor can prevail, When airs, and flights, and screams, and scolding fail.

Tis but a part we see, and not a whole.

An obstinate person does not hold opinions; they hold them.

Blessed is the man who expects nothing, for he shall never be disappointed was the ninth beatitude.

A youth of frolic, an old age of cards.

In faith and hope the world will disagree, but all mankind’s concern is charity.

He best can paint them who shall feel them most.

Vices and virtues are of a strange nature, for the more we have, the fewer we think we have.

No one should be ashamed to admit they are wrong, which is but saying, in other words, that they are wiser today than they were yesterday.

If, presume not to God to scan; The proper study of Mankind is Man. Plac’d on this isthmus of a middle state, a being darkly wise, and rudely great.

Learning is like mercury, one of the most powerful and excellent things in the world in skillful hands; in unskillful, the most mischievous.

For what I have publish’d, I can only hope to be pardon’d; but for what I have burned, I deserve to be prais’d.

Act well your part, there all the honour lies.

Many men have been capable of doing a wise thing, more a cunning thing, but very few a generous thing.

Strength of mind is exercise, not rest.

Your absence is the loudest presence I have ever known.

All those lavenders seemed purple in love they turned lilac without him.

I’m working hard with more determination than ever. My success at the Salon led to my selling several paintings and since your absence I have made 800 francs; I hope, when I have contracts with more dealers, it will be better still.

Liberty does not exist in the absence of morality.

Light is much more than the absence of darkness. And you, my love, are much more than the absence of him.

Life without smoking is like the smoke without the roast.

In the absence of feedback, people will fill in the blanks with a negative. They will assume you don’t care about them or don’t like them.

Courage is not the absence of fear, but rather the assessment that something else is more important than fear.