Many men desire to have two editions of the same work, though it is in fact a proof of inferiority, when a man cannot make his mistress of his wife.
It is impossible to tell how many absurdities are due to this retrospective jealousy... we know nothing of the follies due to the covert rivalry that urges men to copy the type they have set themselves…
When Youth lapses into error, it dares not look into the mirror of its conscience, whereas Ripe Old Age has already seen itself reflected there: therein lies the difference between these two ages of man.
To be a good woman and a prude to all the world, and a courtesan to her husband, is the gift of a woman of genius, and they are few.
The modern god,--the only god in whom faith is preserved,--money, is here, in all its power, manifested in a single countenance.
Young men are almost all subject to a law which seems inexplicable but is in fact to be accounted for by their very youth and headlong pursuit of pleasure. Rich or poor, they never have enough money for the necessities of life, whereas they can always find enough for their whims.
When I became a father, I understood God. His presence is everywhere, since all created things come from him. That is how I am with my daughters. Only I love my daughters more than God loves the world.