Le peuple est un troupeau imbécile, tantôt stupidement patient et tantôt férocement révolté. On lui dit : «Amuse-toi.» Il s'amuse. On lui dit : «Va te battre avec le voisin.» Il va se battre. On lui dit : «Vote pour l'Empereur.» Il vote pour l'Empereur. Puis, on lui dit : «Vote pour la République.» Et il vote pour la République.

Conversation. What is it? A Mystery! It's the art of never seeming bored, of touching everything with interest, of pleasing with trifles, of being fascinating with nothing at all.

Everything is false, everything is possible, everything is doubtful.

How fathomless the mystery of the Unseen is! We cannot plumb its depths with our feeble senses - with eyes which cannot see the infinitely small or the infinitely great, nor anything too close or too distant, such as the beings who live on a star or the creatures which live in a drop of water... with ears that deceive us by converting vibrations of the air into tones that we can hear, for they are sprites which miraculously change movement into sound, a metamorphosis which gives birth to harmonies which turn the silent agitation of nature into song... with our sense of smell, which is poorer than any dog's... with our sense of taste, which is barely capable of detecting the age of a wine!

Ah! If we had other senses which would work other miracles for us, how many more things would we not discover around us!

A legal kiss is never as good as a stolen one

A sick thought can devour the body's flesh more than fever or consumption.