The first forty years of our life give the text, the next thirty furnish the commentary upon it, which enables us rightly to understand the true meaning and connection of the text with its moral and its beauties

Marrying means doing whatever possible to become repulsed of each other

The greatest of follies is to sacrifice health for any other kind of happiness

The two enemies of human happiness are pain and boredom

Willpower is to the mind like a strong blind man who carries on his shoulders a lame man who can see

Change alone is eternal, perpetual, immortal

The doctor sees all the weakness of mankind; the lawyer all the wickedness, the theologian all the stupidity

The closing years of life are like the end of a masquerade party, when the masks are dropped

Hatred is an affair of the heart; contempt that of the head

Treat a work of art like a prince. Let it speak to you first.

In action a great heart is the chief qualification. In work, a great head

To marry is to halve your rights and double your duties