Joseph Roux

The happiness which is lacking makes one think even the happiness one has unbearable.

Science is for those who learn; poetry, for those who know.

It is a very rare thing for a man of talent to succeed by his talent.

Like those statues which must be made larger than "nature" in order that, viewed from below, or from a distance, they may appear to be of the "natural" size, certain truths must be "strained" in order that the public may form a just idea of them.

The folly which we might have ourselves committed is the one which we are least ready to pardon in another.

We call that person who has lost his father, an orphan; and a widower that man who has lost his wife. But that man who has known the immense unhappiness of losing a friend, by what name do we call him? Here every language is silent and holds its peace in impotence.

Say nothing good of yourself, you will be distrusted; say nothing bad of yourself, you will be taken at your word.

Experience comprises illusions lost, rather than wisdom gained.

A fine quotation is a diamond on the finger of a man of wit, and a pebble in the hand of a fool.