“I want to be distinguished from the rest; to tell the truth, a friend to all mankind is not a friend for me.”

The art of flatterers is to take advantage of the foibles of the great, to foster their errors, and never to give advice which may annoy.

A woman always has her revenge ready.

I have the knack of easing scruples.

Its as if you think you’d never find Reason and the Sacred intertwined.

I feed on good soup, not beautiful language.

We die only once, and for such a long time.

Human weakness is to desire to know what one does not want to know.

Frenchmen have an unlimited capacity for gallantry and indulge it on every occasion.

My fair one, let us swear an eternal friendship.

Deference and intimacy live far apart.

A lover tries to stand in well with the pet dog of the house.

Music and dance are all you need.

People can be induced to swallow anything, provided it is sufficiently seasoned with praise.

Nearly all men die of their medicines, not of their diseases.

My heavens! I’ve been talking prose for the last forty years without knowing it.

It may cost me twenty thousand francs; but for twenty thousand francs, I will have the right to rail against the iniquity of humanity, and to devote to it my eternal hatred.