“It is madness beyond compare To try to reform the world.”

Beauty without intelligence is like a hook without bait.

Of all follies there is none greater than wanting to make the world a better place.

It is the public scandal that offends; to sin in secret is no sin at all.

One is easily fooled by that which one loves.

To marry a fool is to be no fool.

There is no rampart that will hold out against malice.

How easily a fathers tenderness is recalled, and how quickly a son’s offenses vanish at the slightest word of repentance!

You are a fool in four letters, my son.

One should eat to live, not live to eat.

Things are only worth what you make them worth.

You think you can marry for your own pleasure, friend?

You only die once, but you will be dead for a very long time.

The absence of the beloved, short though it may last, always lasts too long.

True, Heaven prohibits certain pleasures; but one can generally negotiate a compromise.

Time has nothing to do with the matter.

All which is not prose is verse; and all which is not verse is prose.