“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.”

There is no protection against slander.

Too great haste leads us to error.

When we are understood, we always speak well, and then all your fine diction serves no purpose.

Rest assured that there is nothing which wounds the heart of a noble man more deeply than the thought his honour is assailed.

One cannot but mistrust a prospect of felicity: one must enjoy it before one can believe in it.

The more powerful the obstacle, the more glory we have in overcoming it; and the difficulties with which we are met are the maids of honor which set off virtue.

Oh, how fine it is to know a thing or two.

We live under a prince who is an enemy to fraud, a prince whose eyes penetrate into the heart, and whom all the art of impostors can’t deceive.

The world, dear Agnes, is a strange affair.

I maintain, in truth, That with a smile we should instruct our youth, Be very gentle when we have to blame, And not put them in fear of virtue’s name.

Men often marry in hasty recklessness and repent afterward all their lives.

It is good food and not fine words that keeps me alive.

When you model yourself on people, you should try to resemble their good sides.

Doubts are more cruel than the worst of truths.

Malicious tongues spread their poison abroad and nothing here below is proof against them.

People spend most of their lives worrying about things that never happen.