“As a rule, only the poor are generous. Rich people can always find excellent reasons for not handing over twenty thousand francs to a relative.”

Forgetting is the great secret of strong and creative lives.

One hour of love has a whole life in it.

He has great tranquility of heart who cares neither for the praises nor the fault-finding of men.

There are two histories : official history, lying, and then secret history, where you find the real causes of events.

I can no longer think of anything but you. In spite of myself, my imagination carries me to you. I grasp you, I kiss you, I caress you, a thousand of the most amorous caresses take possession of me.

Love is not only a feeling, it is also an art. A simple word, a sensitive precaution, a mere nothing reveal to a woman the sublime artist who can touch her heart without withering it.

No man has ever yet discovered the way to give friendly advice to any woman, not even to his own wife.

Nobody loves a woman because she is handsome or ugly, stupid or intelligent. We love because we love.

Talent is a flame, but genius is a fire.

Noble passions are like vices: the more they are satisfied, the greater they grow, Mothers and gamblers are insatiable.

Cruelty and fear shake hands together.

The first thing necessary to win the heart of a woman is opportunity.

Love is perhaps no more than gratitude for pleasure.

A woman must be a genius to create a good husband.

A mother who is really a mother is never free.

The press is like a woman: sublime when it lies, it will not let go until it has forced you to believe it. The public, like a foolish husband, always succumbs.

Who would ever care to do brave deed, Or strive in virtue others to excel, If none should yield him his deserved meed Due praise, that is the spur of doing well? For if good were not praised more than ill, None would choose goodness of his own free will.

Consider first, that great or bright infers not excellence.

Those who serve upon our juries have maintained a standard of fairness and excellence and demonstrated a vision toward the administration of justice that is a wellspring of inspiration.

We had forgotten the art of using silence to convey emotions in our films and that’s what you seem to have mastered. You’ve used silence to great advantage in the film. It’s brilliant.

The excellence of every art is its intensity, capable of making all disagreeables evaporate, from their being in close relationship with beauty and truth.

Those who are blessed with the most talent don’t necessarily outperform everyone else. It’s the people with follow-through who excel.

If you are going to achieve excellence in big things, you develop the habit in little matters.

The one excellent thing that can be learned from a lion is that whatever a man intends doing should be done by him with a whole-hearted and strenuous effort.