A thing cannot be great if it is not true.
To indulge in pious impulses is infinitely simpler than to do good.
He learns that the weak man, even if sometimes he does not even know it, gladly sinks into an exalted mood, only good deeds he must do.
Not all who laugh at chains are free.
Some people are famous and some people deserve to be famous.
Not wanting to owe your loved one your love is unforgivable pride.
Do you think Raphael would have become a genius if he had been born without hands?
No people in the world has been endowed with any privileged quality in relation to another people.
Nothing makes life so expressive as gestures, especially during times of emotional turmoil. Without gestures, even the most beautiful face is expressionless.
Love that does not fear that it may attract the scorn of the loved one is small.
A woman will never recognize the charm of another woman.
And waiting for joy is still called joy.
Charming grace is beauty in motion, and therefore the painter captures it with greater difficulty than the poet.
Hamlet's haunting can frighten everyone, whether they are believers or non-believers.
The heart full of love cannot weigh arguments.
Just as a compliment is rarely free of hypocrisy, so vulgarity sometimes contains a grain of truth.
Falling into the trap of vice out of ignorance is one thing, but consciously delving into it is quite another.
Successive actions as such cannot become objects of painting; it should be content with simultaneous actions or bodies which, by their position, cause the action to be presupposed.
Nature intended to make woman the pinnacle of her creation, but the clay proved too soft for this creation.
You can catch a bird, but you can't make its cage a nicer place than freedom.
Equality is the firmest ground for love.
It is sad to enjoy alone.
Is laughing bad? Can't you laugh while keeping your seriousness? Man keeps his reason precisely thanks to laughter.
When we converse, we rarely prove the qualities we have, rather we reveal qualities we lack.
A wise actor will never push his role further than necessary and to the detriment of other roles.
The least good in man's life is wealth, and the greatest is wisdom.
The slowest of men, if he does not lose sight of his purpose, goes faster than the aimless.
The most inveterate scoundrel will seek to justify himself and to convince others that the crime he committed is not so serious, being conditioned by necessity.
The soldier must fight in the name of the country or for the love of something worth fighting for. To serve aimlessly, today here, tomorrow there, is to be a journeyman butcher and nothing more.
Resist, err, err, but for God's sake think, even if crookedly, with your head.