“A man who is half an idiot, but who keeps a sharp lookout and acts prudently all his life, often enjoys the pleasure of triumphing over men of more imagination than he.”

One-half, the finest half, of life is hidden from the man who does not love with passion.

The worst of prison life, he thought, was not being able to close his door.

Man is not free to refuse to do the thing which gives him more pleasure than any other conceivable action.

It is from cowardice and not from want of enlightenment that we do not read in our own hearts.

A good book is an event in my life.

Spring appears and we are once more children.

One can acquire everything in solitude except character.

Nothing is so hideous as an obsolete fashion.

The difference breeds hatred.

There are as many styles of beauty as there are visions of happiness.

What is really beautiful must always be true.

Life is very short, and it ought not to be spent crawling at the feet of miserable scoundrels.

I am mad, I am going under, I must follow the advice of a friend, and pay no heed to myself.

I think being condemned to death is the only real distinction,” said Mathilde. “It is the only thing which cannot be bought.

Beauty is nothing other than the promise of happiness.

True love makes the thought of death frequent, easy, without terrors; it merely becomes the standard of comparison, the price one would pay for many things.