I prefer a pleasant vice to an annoying virtue.

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

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

I live on good soup, not on fine words.

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

Grammar, which knows how to control even kings.

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

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

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

Solitude terrifies the soul at twenty.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Reason is not what decides love.

To marry a fool is to be no fool.

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.

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

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

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

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

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.

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

Unreasonable haste is the direct road to error.

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

Books and marriage go ill together.

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

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

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.

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

People of quality know everything without ever having learned anything.

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

Love is often the fruit of marriage.

I feed on good soup, not beautiful language.

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

I prefer a pleasant vice to an annoying virtue.

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.

There are pretenders to piety as well as to courage.

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

It is a strange enterprise to make respectable people laugh.

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

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

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

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

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.

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

I have the knack of easing scruples.

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

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

One should eat to live, not live to eat.