There is a pleasure in not being pleased.
Feeble verses are those which sin not against rules, but against genius.
The policy of man consists, at first, in endeavoring to arrive at a state equal to that of animals, whom nature has furnished with food, clothing, and shelter.
The passions are the winds which fill the sails of the vessel; they sink it at times, but without them it would be impossible to make way.
The spirit of property doubles a man’s strength.
Men, generally going with the stream, seldom judge for themselves, and purity of taste is almost as rare as talent.
It must be confessed that the inventors of the mechanical arts have been much more useful to men than the inventors of syllogisms.
Adultery is an evil only inasmuch as it is a theft; but we do not steal that which is given to us.
A good cook is a certain slow poisoner, if you are not temperate.
No one is ignorant that our character and turn of mind are intimately connected with the water-closet.
Give me a few minutes to talk away my face and I can seduce the Queen of France.
All succeeds with people who are sweet and cheerful.
The more estimable the offender, the greater the torment.
Fear could never make virtue.
If you wish to obtain a great name or to found an establishment, be completely mad; but be sure that your madness corresponds with the turn and temper of your age.
Since the whole affair had become one of religion, the vanquished were of course exterminated.
In France every man is either an anvil or a hammer; he is a beater or must be beaten.
Hope should no more be a virtue than fear; we fear and we hope, according to what is promised or threatened us.
Let us help one another to bear our burdens.
The abuse of grace is affectation, as the abuse of the sublime is absurdity; all perfection is nearly a fault.