Madame du Deffand

"La distance n'y fait rien; il n'y a que le premier pas qui coûte."

"Il a inventé l'histoire."

"All truths are not to be uttered; still it is always good to hear them."

"Women are too imaginative and sensitive to have much logic."

"Vanity ruins more women than love."

"Women are never stronger than when they arm themselves with their weakness."

"Old acquaintances are better than new friends."

"One is no more the master of his impressions than of his coughing or sneezing."

"Shallow men speak of the past, wise men of the present, and fools of the future."

"We all drink at the spring of happiness in a fractured vase: when it reaches our lips, there is almost nothing left in it."