Frenchmen have an unlimited capacity for gallantry and indulge it on every occasion.

I want to be distinguished from the rest; to tell the truth, a friend to all mankind is not a friend for me.

Grammar, which knows how to control even kings.

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

Love is often the fruit of marriage.

Oh, I may be devout, but I am human all the same.

There’s nothing quite like tobacco: it’s the passion of decent folk, and whoever lives without tobacco doesn’t deserve to live.

It’s true Heaven forbids some pleasures, but a compromise can usually be found.

As the purpose of comedy is to correct the vices of men, I see no reason why anyone should be exempt.

It is not only for what we do that we are held responsible, but also for what we do not do.

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

I live on good soup, not on fine words.

Esteem must be founded on preference: to hold everyone in high esteem is to esteem nothing.

Some of the most famous books are the least worth reading. Their fame was due to their having done something that needed to be doing in their day. The work is done and the virtue...

Don’t appear so scholarly, pray. Humanize your talk, and speak to be understood.

The more we love our friends, the less we flatter them; it is by excusing nothing that pure love shows itself.

I prefer a pleasant vice to an annoying virtue.

If you suppress grief too much, it can well redouble.

The trees that are slow to grow bear the best fruit.

No matter what Aristotle and the Philosophers say, nothing is equal to tobacco; it’s the passion of the well-bred, and he who lives without tobacco lives a life not worth living.

Unreasonable haste is the direct road to error.

I have the knack of easing scruples.

One ought to look a good deal at oneself before thinking of condemning others.

There is no praise to bear the sort that you put in your pocket.

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

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

If you make yourself understood, you’re always speaking well.

People don’t mind being mean; but they never want to be ridiculous.

Every good act is charity. A man’s true wealth hereafter is the good that he does in this world to his fellows.

To marry a fool is to be no fool.

There’s nothing like tobacco; it is the passion of all decent men-a man who lives without tobacco does not deserve to live.

Reason is not what decides love.

There are pretenders to piety as well as to courage.

A lover tries to stand in well with the pet dog of the house.

Perfect reason flees all extremity, and leads one to be wise with sobriety.

Oh, how fine it is to know a thing or two.

Solitude terrifies the soul at twenty.

He who follows his lessons tastes a profound peace, and looks upon everybody as a bunch of manure.

It is a fine seasoning for joy to think of those we love.

It is a strange enterprise to make respectable people laugh.

If everyone were clothed with integrity, if every heart were just, frank, kindly, the other virtues would be well-nigh useless.

People of quality know everything without ever having learned anything.

I feed on good soup, not beautiful language.

Books and marriage go ill together.

A learned fool is more a fool than an ignorant fool.

It is not only what we do, but also what we do not do, for which we are accountable.

Of all the noises known to man, opera is the most expensive.

I have the fault of being a little more sincere than is proper.

The duty of comedy is to correct men by amusing them.

Ah! how annoying that the law doesn’t allow a woman to change husbands just as one does shirts.