The oldest and best known evil was ever more supportable than one that was new and untried.

My life has been filled with terrible misfortune; most of which never happened.

I speak truth, not so much as I would, but as much as I dare; and I dare a little the more, as I grow older.

The most manifest sign of wisdom is continued cheerfulness.

When I play with my cat, who knows if I am not more of a pastime to her than she is to me?

Let us a little permit nature to take her own way; she better understands her own affairs than we.

Silence, along with modesty, is a great aid to conversation.

Man is quite insane. He wouldn’t know how to create a maggot, and he creates gods by the dozen.

It could be said of me that in this book I have only made up a bunch of other men’s flowers, providing of my own only the string that ties them together.

Que sais-je?