Nothing is so delicate as the reputation of a woman; it is at once the most beautiful and most brittle of all human things.

Insensibility, of all kinds, and on all occasions, most moves my imperial displeasure

I am ashamed of confessing that I have nothing to confess.

Travelling is the ruin of all happiness. There's no looking at a building here after seeing Italy.

But if the young are never tired of erring in conduct, neither are the older in erring of judgment.

Credulity is the sister of innocence.

I wish the opera was every night. It is, of all entertainments, the sweetest and most delightful. Some of the songs seemed to melt my very soul.

to diminish expectation is to increase enjoyment.

A youthful mind is seldom totally free from ambition; to curb that, is the first step to contentment, since to diminish expectation is to increase enjoyment.

I cannot sleep - great joy is as restless as sorrow.

A little alarm now and then keeps life from stagnation.

Hope is not some abstract, softheaded concept. It is an idea with an engine.

Life is stressful, dear. That's why they say "rest in peace.

It's why you need other fingers, other tongues. Only other people can make you feel real.

Eloquence: saying the proper thing and stopping.

How can we learn self-knowledge? Never by taking thought but rather by action. Try to do your duty and you'll soon discover what you're like.

Life just keeps unfolding, ignoring our praise or blame.

The ocean does not require that the waves are still to be more ocean-like.

Prayer is the exercise of drawing on the grace of God.

Young girls are obsessed with having a thigh gap. I blame the impossible body standards set by Spongebob.

The old bastions of the post-communist regime collapsed before my very eyes. The monsters who had kept Ukraine in a criminal state left the stage.