"Letter writing is the only device combining solitude with good company."

"I have a great contempt for the world, and I am not ashamed to own it."

"I have too much of the poet in me to be a practical man."

"I have been in love with a great many women, and I have found them all equally charming and equally faithless."

"All the pious deeds performed on Earth can never entitle a man to everlasting happiness."