It is easier to be a lover than a husband for the simple reason that it is more difficult to be witty every day than to say pretty things from time to time.

Nothing so fortifies a friendship as a belief on the part of one friend that he is superior to the other.

The fact is that love is of two kinds, one which commands, and one which obeys. The two are quite distinct, and the passion to which the one gives rise is not the passion of the other.

When women love us, they forgive us everything, even our crimes; when they do not love us, they give us credit for nothing, not even our virtues.

Great love affairs start with Champagne and end with tisane.

First love is a kind of vaccination which saves a man from catching the complaint the second time.

Clouds symbolize the veils that shroud God.

Solitude is fine, but you need someone to tell you that solitude is fine.

A mother who is really a mother is never free.

The most virtuous women have something within them, something that is never chaste.

No man should marry until he has studied anatomy and dissected at least one woman.

Power is not revealed by striking hard or often, but by striking true.

The motto of chivalry is also the motto of wisdom; to serve all, but love only one.

The man as he converses is the lover; silent, he is the husband.

The majority of husbands remind me of an orangutan trying to play the violin.

A mother's happiness is like a beacon, lighting up the future but reflected also on the past in the guise of fond memories.

Nobody loves a woman because she is handsome or ugly, stupid or intelligent. We love because we love.

Love has its own instinct, finding the way to the heart, as the feeblest insect finds the way to its flower, with a will which nothing can dismay nor turn aside.

There is no such thing as a great talent without great will power.

A woman knows the face of the man she loves as a sailor knows the open sea.

The more one judges, the less one loves.

The heart of a mother is a deep abyss at the bottom of which you will always find forgiveness.

True love is eternal, infinite, and always like itself. It is equal and pure, without violent demonstrations: it is seen with white hairs and is always young in the heart.

Equality may perhaps be a right, but no power on earth can ever turn it into a fact.