When the gods wish to punish us they answer our prayers.

Some cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go.

Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth.

There is only one thing in life worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.

To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance.

A dreamer is one who can only find his way by moonlight, and his punishment is that he sees the dawn before the rest of the world.

When I was young I thought that money was the most important thing in life; now that I am old I know that it is.

All women become like their mothers. That is their tragedy. No man does. That's his.

There are only two tragedies in life: one is not getting what one wants, and the other is getting it.

True friends stab you in the front.

Children begin by loving their parents; after a time they judge them; rarely, if ever, do they forgive them.

The only difference between the saint and the sinner is that every saint has a past, and every sinner has a future.

Experience is simply the name we give our mistakes.

Between men and women there is no friendship possible. There is passion, enmity, worship, love, but no friendship.

Consistency is the last refuge of the unimaginative.

To lose one parent may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose both looks like carelessness.

I have the simplest tastes. I am always satisfied with the best.

Patriotism is the virtue of the vicious.

If you are not too long, I will wait here for you all my life.

Experience is one thing you can't get for nothing.

I can resist everything except temptation.

Memory... is the diary that we all carry about with us.

Education is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember from time to time that nothing that is worth knowing can be taught.

Ridicule is the tribute paid to the genius by the mediocrities.

Work is the curse of the drinking classes.

Success is a science; if you have the conditions, you get the result.

Ambition is the last refuge of the failure.

Morality is simply the attitude we adopt towards people whom we personally dislike.

To expect the unexpected shows a thoroughly modern intellect.

Keep love in your heart. A life without it is like a sunless garden when the flowers are dead.

A man's face is his autobiography. A woman's face is her work of fiction.

Sometimes the poor are praised for being thrifty. But to recommend thrift to the poor is both grotesque and insulting. It is like advising a man who is starving to eat less.

Life imitates art far more than art imitates Life.

Beauty is the only thing that time cannot harm. Philosophies fall away like sand, creeds follow one another, but what is beautiful is a joy for all seasons, a possession for all eternity.

What is a cynic? A man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.

Men always want to be a woman's first love - women like to be a man's last romance.

It is absurd to divide people into good and bad. People are either charming or tedious.

One should always be in love. That is the reason one should never marry.

The only way to get rid of temptation is to yield to it... I can resist everything but temptation.

Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation.

I always pass on good advice. It is the only thing to do with it. It is never of any use to oneself.

Moderation is a fatal thing. Nothing succeeds like excess.

America is the only country that went from barbarism to decadence without civilization in between.

Women are made to be loved, not understood.

We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.

Life is never fair, and perhaps it is a good thing for most of us that it is not.

A man can be happy with any woman, as long as he does not love her.

No man is rich enough to buy back his past.

Life is far too important a thing ever to talk seriously about.

A gentleman is one who never hurts anyone's feelings unintentionally.

Society exists only as a mental concept; in the real world there are only individuals.

I am so clever that sometimes I don't understand a single word of what I am saying.

The world is a stage, but the play is badly cast.

A man who does not think for himself does not think at all.

Bigamy is having one wife too many. Monogamy is the same.

By giving us the opinions of the uneducated, journalism keeps us in touch with the ignorance of the community.

Questions are never indiscreet, answers sometimes are.

One of the many lessons that one learns in prison is, that things are what they are and will be what they will be.

As long as war is regarded as wicked, it will always have its fascination. When it is looked upon as vulgar, it will cease to be popular.

It is better to be beautiful than to be good. But... it is better to be good than to be ugly.