Anne Sophie Swetchine

“Most of our faults are more pardonable than the means we use to conceal them.”

“To have what we want is riches, but to be able to do without is power.”

“We must not only give what we have; we must also give what we are.”

“A word of kindness is seldom spoken in vain. It is a seed which, even when dropped by chance, springs up a flower.”

“Simplicity is a jewel rarely found.”

“We are never so ridiculous by the qualities we have as by those we affect to have.”

“True love is that which ennobles the personality, fortifies the heart, and sanctifies the existence.”

“Nothing is more sad than the death of an illusion.”

“Life has its share of thorns, and I know no other remedy than to pass quickly through them. The longer we dwell on our misfortunes, the greater is their power to harm us.”

“Those who have suffered much are like those who know many languages; they have learned to understand and be understood by all.”

“Sorrow is a kind of rust of the soul, which every new idea contributes in its passage to scour away.”

“It is with nations as with individuals, those who know the least of others think the most of themselves.”

“What a father says to his children is not heard by the world, but it will be heard by posterity.”

“To be witty is not enough. One must possess sufficient wit to avoid having too much of it.”

“To have what we want is riches, but to be able to do without is power.”

“What a father says to his children is not heard by the world, but it will be heard by posterity.”

“Men of genius are often dull and inert in society; as the blazing meteor, when it descends to earth, is only a stone.”

“Age does not depend upon years, but upon temperament and health. Some men are born old, and some never grow so.”

“To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it.”

“We are rich only through what we give, and poor only through what we refuse.”