In a novel, the author gives the leading character intelligence and distinction. Fate goes to less trouble: mediocrities play a part in great events simply from happening to be there.
Black as the devil, hot as hell, pure as an angel, sweet as love.
The art of statesmanship is to foresee the inevitable and to expedite its occurrence.
To succeed in the world, it is much more necessary to possess the penetration to discern who is a fool, than to discover who is a clever man.
Speech has been given to man to disguise his thoughts.
Those who did not live during the years close to 1789 do not know the pleasure of living.
Methods are the masters of masters.
If you wish to be popular in society consent to be taught many things you already know.
Too much sensibility creates unhappiness and too much insensibility creates crime.
There is one person that is wiser than anybody, and that is everybody.
Wherever there’s trouble, look for a priest.
A clever woman often compromises her husband; a stupid woman only compromises herself.
What I have been taught, I have forgotten; what I know, I have guessed.
Merit, however inconsiderable, should be sought for and rewarded. Methods are the master of masters.
Love of glory can only create a great hero; contempt of glory creates a great man.
The reputation of a man is like his shadow, gigantic when it precedes him, and pigmy in its proportions when it follows.
I found there a country with thirty-two religions and only one sauce.
Beauty, devoid of grace, is a mere hook without the bait.
It is not an event; it is a piece of news.
The rich man despises those who flatter him too much, and hates those who do not flatter him at all.
Those who have not lived in the eighteenth century, in the years before the Revolution do not know the sweetness of living and cannot imagine what it was like to have happiness in life.