“Nothing resembles selfishness more closely than self-respect”

“Life resembles a novel more often than novels resemble life.(La vie ressemble plus souvent à un roman qu'un roman ne ressemble à la vie.)”

“There are no more thorough prudes than those who have some little secret to hide.”

“God has written in the law of nature that when two people are joined in love or friendship, one must always give his heart more perfectly than the other.”

“Nothing is so easy as to deceive one’s self when one does not lack wit and is familiar with all the niceties of language. Language is a prostitute queen who descends and rises to all roles. Disguises herself, arrays herself in fine apparel, hides her head and effaces herself; an advocate who has an answer for everything, who has always foreseen everything, and who assumes a thousand forms in order to be right. The most honorable of men is he who thinks best and acts best, but the most powerful is he who is best able to talk and write”

“One is happy once one knows the necessary ingredients of happiness: simple tastes, a certain degree of courage, self denial to a point, love of work, and above all, a clear conscience.”

“One is happy as a result of one's own efforts once one knows the necessary ingredients of happiness: simple tastes, a certain degree of courage, self denial to a point, love of work, and above all, a clear conscience.”