Feminine virtue is nothing but a convenient masculine invention.
— Ninon de L'Enclos
The joy of the mind is the measure of its strength.
Today a new sun rises for me; everything lives, everything is animated, everything seems to speak to me of my passion, everything invites me to cherish it.
The resistance of a woman is not always a proof of her virtue, but more frequently of her experience.
Actors ought to be larger than life. You come across quite enough ordinary, nondescript people in daily life and I don't see why you should be subjected to them on the stage too.
The ideal has many names, and beauty is but one of them.
Words really flattering are not those which we prepare but those which escape us unthinkingly.
It is strange that modesty is the rule for women when what they most value in men is boldness.
Love never dies of starvation, but often of indigestion.
Old age is a woman's hell.
Every action we take, everything we do, is either a victory or defeat in the struggle to become what we want to be.
Men lose more conquests by their own awkwardness than by any virtue in the woman.
A sensible woman should be guided by her head when taking a husband, and by her heart when taking a lover.
A man is given the choice between loving women and understanding them.
If God had to give a woman wrinkles, He might at least have put them on the soles of her feet.
That which is striking and beautiful is not always good, but that which is good is always beautiful.
The more sins you confess, the more books you will sell.
