Writing is like prostitution. First you do it for love, and then for a few close friends, and then for money.

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

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

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

Love is often the fruit of marriage.

One should eat to live, not live to eat.

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

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

It is a strange enterprise to make respectable people laugh.

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

It infuriates me to be wrong when I know I'm right.

Solitude terrifies the soul at twenty.

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

We die only once, and for such a long time.

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

I live on good soup, not on fine words.

Grammar, which knows how to control even kings.

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

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

A wise man is superior to any insults which can be put upon him, and the best reply to unseemly behavior is patience and moderation.

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

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

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

Books and marriage go ill together.

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

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

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

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

I have the knack of easing scruples.

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

People of quality know everything without ever having learned anything.

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

Unreasonable haste is the direct road to error.

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

Writing is like prostitution. First you do it for love, and then for a few close friends, and then for money.

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.

I prefer a pleasant vice to an annoying virtue.

All the ills of mankind, all the tragic misfortunes that fill the history books, all the political blunders, all the failures of the great leaders have arisen merely from a lack of skill at dancing.

I feed on good soup, not beautiful language.

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 of the book has expired.

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

There are pretenders to piety as well as to courage.

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

Reason is not what decides love.

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

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

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

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

The greater the obstacle, the more glory in overcoming it.