“They may talk of a comet, or a burning mountain, or some such bagatelle; but to me a modest woman, dressed out in all her finery, is the most tremendous object of the whole creation.”

“I chose my wife, as she did her wedding gown, for qualities that would wear well.”

“A great source of calamity lies in regret and anticipation; therefore a person is wise who thinks of the present alone, regardless of the past or future.”

“Success consists of getting up just one more time than you fall.”

“The company of fools may first make us smile, but in the end we always feel melancholy.”

“Life is a journey that must be traveled no matter how bad the roads and accommodations.”

“You can preach a better sermon with your life than with your lips.”

“Pity and friendship are two passions incompatible with each other.”

“All that a husband or wife really wants is to be pitied a little, praised a little, and appreciated a little.”

“A man who leaves home to mend himself and others is a philosopher; but he who goes from country to country, guided by the blind impulse of curiosity, is a vagabond.”

“Romance and novel paint beauty in colors more charming than nature, and describe a happiness that humans never taste. How deceptive and destructive are those pictures of consummate bliss!”