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Beauty without intelligence is like a hook without bait.
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There's nothing people can't contrive to praise or condemn and find justification for doing so, according to their age and their inclinations.
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Most people die from the remedy rather than from the illness.
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The proof of true love is to be unsparing in criticism.
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Man's greatest weakness is his love for life.
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A woman always has her revenge ready.
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Writing is like prostitution. First you do it for love, and then for a few close friends, and then for money.
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Too great haste leads us to error.
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Of all human foibles love of living is the most powerful.
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According to the saying of an ancient philosopher, one should eat to live, and not live to eat.
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The most effective way of attacking vice is to expose it to public ridicule. People can put up with rebukes but they cannot bear being laughed at: they are prepared to be wicked but they dislike appearing ridiculous.
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Folk whose own behavior is most ridiculous are always to the fore in slandering others.
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There is no secret of the heart which our actions do not disclose.
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Doubts are more cruel than the worst of truths. It is not only for what we do that we are held responsible, but also for what we do not do. A lover whose passion is extreme loves even the faults of the beloved.
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People can be induced to swallow anything, provided it is sufficiently seasoned with praise.
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Without knowledge, life is no more than the shadow of death.
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If you make yourself understood, you're always speaking well.
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Betrayed and wronged in everything, I’ll flee this bitter world where vice is king, And seek some spot unpeopled and apart Where I’ll be free to have an honest heart.
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No matter what everybody says, ultimately these things can harm us only by the way we react to them.
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The impromptu reply is precisely the touchstone of the man of wit.
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Nothing can be fairer, or more noble, than the holy fervor of true zeal.
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One can be well-bred and write bad poetry.
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All the ills of mankind, all the tragic misfortunes that fill the history books, all the political blunders, all the failures of the great leaders have arisen merely from a lack of skill at dancing.
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Grammar, which knows how to lord it over kings, and with high hands makes them obey its laws.